Black CEOs and the ‘teddy bear’ effect

Oct 16, 2009

By Sharon Begley

The study was simple. The researchers had volunteers study head shots of current and former CEOs—men and women, black and white, all in business attire—of Fortune 500 companies and rate how baby-faced they looked on a four-point scale. Black male CEOs were rated as significantly more baby-faced than their white peers, as well as warmer—kind, nonthreatening guys.

Coincidence? If only. The most likely interpretation of the results is that facial cues of warmth and nonthreateningness “mitigate feelings of anger, envy, or resentment among Whites who might otherwise feel threatened by powerful Black males,” the researchers say.