Dissecting Discrimination

This project advances a new framework for understanding prejudice by distinguishing between category-level and cue-level bias. Whereas most experimental studies of discrimination focus on category-level prejudice—bias directed at entire groups identified through labels such as Black, gay, or immigrant—Naunov argues that much contemporary discrimination operates at the cue level, targeting the visible and audible markers that make those identities perceptible. Using three pre-registered survey experiments, Naunov will test this framework across key social domains: interpersonal persuasion, juror decision-making, and electoral evaluation. The studies examine whether (1) immigrant speakers face bias intensified by foreign accent, (2) Black victims using African American Vernacular English are deemed less credible in court testimony, and (3) transgender candidates incur electoral penalties not only for their identity category but for androgynous vocal cues. Together, the experiments reveal how modern prejudice punishes those who fail to “mute” difference, offering a more comprehensive account of discrimination in post-civil-rights America.