Forging links with the self to combat implicit bias

Abstract

Two experiments examined whether Whites’ implicit biases toward Blacks could be reduced by conditioning links between Blacks and the self. Via a computer-mediated experience, White participants were assigned to the same (minimal) group as several Black individuals and practiced classifying photographs as “MY GROUP” or “OTHER GROUP.” Subsequent performance on implicit prejudice and stereotyping measures was compared to a control condition and another condition involving extensive counterstereotype conditioning. Across experiments, the link to self strategy significantly reduced implicit prejudice, relative to the control condition, and to the same extent as the counterstereotype conditioning condition. Process dissociation analyses revealed that these effects corresponded with a reduction in the automatic activation of biased associations. Counterstereotype conditioning also reduced implicit stereotyping, but the link-to-self strategy did not. These findings extend prior work on the reduction of implicit biases and highlight the importance of comparing implicit bias strategies across different types of bias measures.