Asian Americans are victims of anti-Asian racism, but recent studies have also shown that they have a different role in perpetuating anti-Blackness and White supremacy. Our research aimed to specifically examine whether White and Asian Americans perceive a difference between anti-Blackness and White supremacy. We ran a qualitative study where anti-Blackness and White supremacy were defined for Asian and White American participants, who were then asked to write about their racial group’s relationship with those phenomena. We defined anti-Blackness as the belief that Black people are inherently inferior to others, and the corresponding practice of them being given insufficient power. Similarly, we defined White supremacy as the belief that White people are inherently superior to others and the corresponding practice of them being given disproportionate power. A few research assistants and I rated the similarity between the responses on anti-Blackness and White supremacy on a Likert scale from 1 to 7, with 1 indicating “not similar at all,” and 7 indicating “very similar.” We then performed a two-sample t-test (a type of statistical data analysis in psychological research) on this data to compare the responses between the Asian and White American participants. As expected, we found that the Asian American participants rated anti-Blackness and White supremacy as being more distinct than the White Americans did. The p-value for this data analysis was a statistically significant 0.004. These findings establish a foundation for future studies on the Asian American role in anti-Blackness and White supremacy. I have also conducted data analysis and ran participants for two such studies, which examined whether reminders of anti-Blackness caused Asian Americans to take more responsibility for anti-Blackness and show more solidarity with African Americans more than reminders of White supremacy.

Gender disparities persist in male-dominated fields, with women often underrepresented in STEM fields such as computer science. We examine “sense of mattering”– the perception of one's contributions and work being valued and recognized by others– as a factor that may help explain women’s underrepresentation in male-dominated fields. We investigate whether manipulating sense of mattering in a hypothetical computer science class influences actual participation, interest, and anticipated performance in group tasks. Participants (n=200) recruited from the University of Washington’s Psychology Research Pool will be randomly assigned to either a high or low peer recognition condition via an online survey wherein participants engage in a group chat with peers to complete computer science tasks. Participants will contribute to this chat using both prewritten and open-response options. Participation will be analyzed for language content and response length and perceived interest and anticipated performance in computer science will be assessed through a self-report measure. We hypothesize that heightened peer recognition will lead to greater participation, interest, and anticipated performance outcomes for all participants, with a stronger effect for women than men. Future directions for this study include exploring other channels through which sense of mattering could be influenced (e.g., teacher behaviors) and investigating its relevance in disciplines beyond computer science. Examining the potential significance of mattering may pave the way for interventions that foster environments that better appreciate women's contributions.