Implicit bias reduction that lasts: Putting Situational Attribution Training to the test

Abstract

AbstractAddressing the damaging effects of implicit stereotypes—spontaneous, awareness‐independent associations between social groups and particular traits—remains a social imperative. These biases have been linked to negative outcomes in settings ranging from the workplace to medical care facilities. However, many techniques found to reduce implicit biases have been shown to yield short‐lived effects. In the present experiment, we assessed the longevity of reduced implicit racial stereotyping resulting from an intensive training technique that focuses on weakening the fundamental attributional processes underlying implicit stereotyping. Specifically, we aimed to strengthen the likelihood of White participants to consider situational attributions for behaviors performed by Black men that might otherwise have been judged to reflect negative African American stereotypes. White participants were randomly assigned to complete either Situational Attribution Training (SAT), a technique comprised of intensive training (480 trials) to “consider the situation” when making judgments about stereotype‐consistent behaviors performed by Black men, or a control task. Implicit stereotyping was assessed 24h later via the Person Categorization Task and found to be reduced for SAT, versus control, participants even after this delay. Implications for future antibias research and practice are considered.