Reference no: EM132760467

Social Psychology Case Study

This week's case study uses a real-life racist event involving a White woman (Amy Cooper) and a Black man (Christian Cooper, no relation) in Central Park that has gotten a lot of media attention. If you are not familiar with this event, you can read about it here (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/us/central-park-video-dog-video-african-american-trnd/index.html).

CASE STUDY: 

Amy has since apologized for her actions. Here are some excerpts from her apology: "I want to apologize to Chris Cooper for my actions when I encountered him in Central Park yesterday. I reacted emotionally and made false assumptions about his intentions when, in fact, I was the one who was acting inappropriately by not having my dog on a leash. When Chris began offering treats to my dog and confronted me in an area where there was no one else nearby and said, "You're not going to like what I'm going to do next," I assumed we were being threatened when all he had intended to do was record our encounter on his phone. He had every right to request that I leash my dog in an area where it was required. I am well aware of the pain that misassumptions and insensitive statements about race cause and would never have imagined that I would be involved in the type of incident that occurred with Chris." She also spoke with some news outlets: "I'm not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way...I think I was just scared...When you're alone in the Ramble, you don't know what's happening. It's not excusable, it's not defensible." Amy Cooper told CNN that since the video was posted, her "entire life is being destroyed right now." 

Christian described that he initially decided to record the encounter as evidence for why the rule of keeping dogs leashed should be enforced (to protect birds' natural habitat). Then, Amy said that she was going to call the police and say, "There's an African American man threatening my life." "At that point I was faced with a decision. Do I capitulate to that attempt to use race to leverage what she wanted, or do I sort of stick [to] my guns and keep recording? I really kinda decided consciously, I'm not going to participate in my own dehumanization."

Christian has responded to this situation and Amy's apology in a few interviews, which I've excerpted here: "I think her apology is sincere. I'm not sure that in that apology she recognizes that while she may not be or consider herself a racist, that particular act was definitely racist. I think she's gotta do some reflection on what happened because up until the moment when she made that statement ... it was just a conflict between a birder and a dog walker, and then...she went racial. There are certain dark societal impulses that she, as a White woman facing in a conflict with a Black man, that she thought she could marshal to her advantage. I don't know if it was a conscious thing or not, but she did it...And the fact that that was her recourse at that moment -- granted, it was a stressful situation, a sudden situation -- you know, maybe a moment of spectacularly poor judgment. But she went there and had this racist act that she did."

"Is she a racist? I can't answer that. Only she can answer that. And I would submit probably the only way she's going to answer that is going forward. How she conducts herself and, you know, how she chooses to reflect on this situation and examine it...Any of us can make - not necessarily a racist mistake, but a mistake. And to get that kind of tidal wave in such a compressed period of time, it's got to hurt. It's got to hurt. I'm not excusing the racism, but I don't know if her life needed to be torn apart."

"It's not really about her and her poor judgement in a snap second...It's about the underlying current of racism and racial perceptions that's been going on for centuries and that permeates this city and this country that she tapped into. That's what we really have to address; not the specifics of her, but why are we still plagued with that and how do we fix it. If we are going to make progress, we've got to address these things, and if this painful process...helps to correct, or takes us a step further toward addressing the underlying racial, horrible assumptions that we African-Americans have to deal with, and have dealt with for centuries, that this woman tapped into, then it's worth it. Sadly, it has to come at her expense."

CASE STUDY: CHRISTIAN

1. The Sue article describes many forms of microaggressions. What kinds of microaggression may Cooper have experienced in his interaction with Amy and/or in her apology?

2. The Holder article describes a variety of reactions to microaggressions and coping strategies for dealing with microaggressions.

a. Which reactions/strategies do you see in his decision to keep filming?

b. What reactions/coping strategies do you see in his response to Amy Cooper's apology?

3. Christian responded to Amy's apology in part by saying, "I'm not sure that...she recognizes that while she may not be or consider herself a racist, that particular act was definitely racist... granted, it was a stressful situation, a sudden situation...maybe a moment of spectacularly poor judgment. But she went there and had this racist act that she did." What attribution distinction is Christian making here?

4. The Sue article describes 3 kinds of dilemmas that microaggressions create. 

a. In what ways do you think Christian may have experienced these dilemmas (or not experienced) in his interaction with Amy?

b. How may they have influenced his response in the moment and/or in reaction to her apology?

5. A low proportion of bird-watchers are African American men. How might the concept of hypervisibility play into Christian's experience as a birdwatcher, and in this particular interaction?