From The Atlantic:

Do White College Students Believe Stereotypes About Minorities?

Researchers found that they bought into the trope that Asian Americans are more competent, and blacks and Latinos need to “work harder.”

NATALIE GROSS 12:00 PM ET EDUCATION

Asian American students are “cold but competent.” Latinos and blacks “need to work harder to move up.”

At least, that’s how their white peers at the country’s elite colleges and universities see them, according to a new study by Baylor University researchers. The study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, a survey of 898 participants from 27 prestigious American universities in which respondents rated their opinions of Asian, black, and Latino Americans based on work ethic, intelligence, and perseverance.

Researchers set out to determine whether stereotypes of these minority groups are commonly believed and found their suspicions confirmed.

“Now we have some concrete evidence that some white people tend to think that,” said Jerry Park, an associate professor of sociology in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences and lead researcher on the study. … “Recent theories suggest that Latinos are generally perceived in the same ways as African Americans when compared against Asian Americans,” said Park. “These white student respondents tended to rate Asian Americans more highly than Latinos on qualities that reflect competence. …

The study was published in Social Psychology Quarterly and focused on the opinions of white students because, researchers wrote, “arguably, many of these respondents come largely from environments of privilege and will likely have significant influence in many quarters of American society.”