Reducing Implicit Racial Preferences: I. A Comparative Investigation of 17 Interventions

Many methods for reducing implicit prejudice have been identified, but little is known about their relative effectiveness. We held a research contest to experimentally compare interventions for reducing the expression of implicit racial prejudice. Teams submitted seventeen interventions that were tested an average of 3.70 times each in four studies (total N = 17,021), with rules for revising interventions between studies. Eight of seventeen interventions were effective at reducing implicit preferences for Whites compared to Blacks, particularly ones that provided experience with counterstereotypical exemplars, used evaluative conditioning methods, and provided strategies to override biases. The other nine interventions were ineffective, particularly ones that engaged participants with others’ perspectives, asked participants to consider egalitarian values, or induced a positive emotion. The most potent interventions were ones that invoked high self-involvement or linked Black people with positivity and White people with negativity. No intervention consistently reduced explicit racial preferences. Furthermore, intervention effectiveness only weakly extended to implicit preferences for Asians and Hispanics.

诸多降低隐性偏见的策略已得识别，然而，关于其相对有效性的认知尚显匮乏。本研究举办了一场科研竞赛，旨在通过实验对比检验降低隐性种族偏见表达的各种干预措施。参赛团队提交了十七种干预措施，在四项研究中平均每项被测试3.70次（总样本量N=17,021），并在各研究之间设定了修订干预措施的规定。在十七种干预措施中，有八种在减少对白人的隐性偏好较黑人的偏好方面表现出有效性，尤其是那些提供与反刻板印象实例经验、采用评估条件化方法以及提供克服偏见策略的干预措施。其余九种干预措施无效，尤其是那些涉及参与者与他人的观点互动、要求参与者考虑平等主义价值观或诱导积极情绪的干预措施。最具效力的干预措施是那些能够激发高度自我关联或将与黑人联系于积极形象、将白人联系于消极形象的干预措施。没有任何一种干预措施能够持续减少对白人的显性种族偏好。此外，干预措施的有效性仅微弱地扩展到对亚洲人和拉丁美洲人的隐性偏好。