White liberals tend to alter the way they speak when talking to African Americans to make themselves look less competent, according to a new study.

The 'well-intentioned' but 'ultimately patronizing' shift in speech patterns suggests that white liberals are drawing on stereotypes about minorities having low status or low competence levels, according to the study to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

'There's a lot of research focused on biased individuals and how holding bias, especially implicit bias, can influence social interactions, but that leaves a lot of people out' said co-author Cydney Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale School of Management.

'My hope is that this work will help include well-intentioned people who see themselves as allies but who may be unwittingly contributing to group divides,' she added. 'There is a broader need to include them in the conversation.'

A new study by researchers at Yale and Princeton finds that white liberals tend to alter their speech to appear less competent when talking to African Americans

Dupree and co-author Susan Fiske of Princeton University started their research by analyzing the words used by Democratic and Republican presidential candidates on the campaign trail.

They found that the Democrats tended to shift their speech in front of different audiences, while Republicans did not alter their speaking patterns – though 'it was harder to find speeches from Republicans delivered to minority audiences,' Dupree told Yale Insights.

'It was really surprising to see that for nearly three decades, Democratic presidential candidates have been engaging in this predicted behavior,' she added.

Of 74 speeches, roughly half were addressed to mostly minority audiences while the other half were directed to mostly white audiences.

It was really surprising to see that for nearly three decades, Democratic presidential candidates have been engaging in this predicted behavior. -Cydney Dupree, Yale School of Management

Researchers reviewed the speeches for words that fall into two categories: competence and warmth, saying that they are two critical dimensions that reveal how we see others and what we try to convey about ourselves.

Words related to warmth are about friendliness – think 'supportive' and compassionate' – and have to do with one's intentions toward other people.

On the other hand, words related to competence are related to ability or status – for example, 'assertive' or 'competitive' – and indicate one's ability to carry out their intentions successfully.

Bentley Gibson, an Atlanta-based psychologist researching implicit racial bias, said she was not surprised by the team's findings - and that they reflect patterns she's seen in her own work training people to recognize and break away from their own unconscious biases.

'(Liberals are) highly aware of the stereotypes, but it also means their pro-white biases are higher,' she told DailyMail.com.

'When you don't have a strong white bias and don't see white as "better" and black as "lesser," then you don't do these things,' she added. 'If you unconsciously see black as a lower status you won't even realize in the moment (that) you are dumbing yourself down.'

Dupree and Fiske ultimately decided to take their research a step further, creating a series of experiments in which white participants were asked how they would respond in interactions with a hypothetical person in hypothetical situations.

Half of participants were assigned a hypothetical partner with a stereotypically white name (Emily, for example), while the other half were given participants with stereotypically black names (for instance, Lakisha).

The subjects were then given a list of words to choose from to compose an email to Emily or Lakisha.

In some cases the email was work related, while in others it was just an introduction.

Each of the words was scored on how warm or competent it was. For example, 'euphoric' is high in warmth and competence, while 'happy' is high in warmth and low in competence and 'melancholy' is low in warmth and high in competence.

Racism and white supremacy cannot remain so ingrained in our society solely based on those who express racism explicitly. - Malik Russell, NAACP

Participants were then scored on how competent and warm they presented themselves to be.

Again, people who identified as liberal were less likely than conservatives to use words that made them appear highly competent when talking to a person who was presumed to be African American.

'It was kind of an unpleasant surprise to see this subtle but persistent effect,' Dupree says. 'Even if it's ultimately well-intentioned, it could be seen as patronizing.'

Dupree and Fiske suggested that white liberals are aware of real and perceived differences in their own status and privilege – and may be attempting to compensate to look less 'stereotypically high in status' when they alter their speech patterns around African Americans.

'One thing is clear, implicit bias affects all aspects of our society, regardless of how we see ourselves,' NAACP spokesperson Malik Russell told DailyMail.com.

'We know that racism and white supremacy cannot remain so ingrained in our society solely based on those who express racism explicitly, he added. 'There has to be conscious or unconscious buy-in to stereotypes by those who consider themselves liberal as well.'