Bias in manipulation checks of students’ race

Research into educational inequalities often uses paradigms with vignettes to investigate the role of bias. Those studies often include manipulation and attention checks to assess whether participants correctly noticed the target group’s identity. In three experimental studies (total N= 1050) using vignettes with blurred pictures of Black or White target students, we show low levels of correct answers in manipulation checks. Furthermore, in the third study, we show that the proportion of correct answers to the manipulation checks differed by race of the target. Incorrect answers were more frequent for black targets. No such differences emerged with attention checks (where questions were not about race). Either teachers are trying not to appear prejudiced, or they have attention biases when considering information about Black vs. White students. Both phenomena shed light on psychological processes underlying reasoning about students from different ethnic backgrounds and are important points to take into consideration for researchers working on social inequalities in education.