A Video Intervention Reduces Racial Bias in a Representative Sample of US Adults: A Brain as Predictor Study

Biased attitudes and behaviors towards racial minorities in the US are pervasive, enduring, and detrimental. We tested whether a video illustrating the importance of inclusivity would influence short-term and medium-term attitudes and behaviors towards African-Americans. In Experiment 1, a high-impact video was identified by measuring neurologic Immersion in the laboratory (N=62). Experiment 2 then recruited a representative sample of US adults (N=1097) to assess the video's impact on attitudes and behaviors towards African-Americans. A two-week follow up was run to determine if effects of the video persisted. We found that the video improved attitudes towards Black Americans by 11% and generosity in sharing money with a Black male by 104% compared to controls. Both treatment effects persisted after the washout period indicating that high neurologic Immersion videos may be an effective way to reduce out-group biases at scale.

美国境内针对少数族裔的偏见性态度与行为普遍存在、长期存续且危害深重。本研究旨在探究一段阐释包容性重要性的视频，能否对非裔美国人（African-Americans）相关的短期与中长期态度及行为产生影响。在实验1中，研究团队通过实验室环境下的神经沉浸度（neurologic Immersion）测量，筛选出了一段高影响力视频，实验共纳入62名被试。随后实验2招募了具有全国代表性的美国成年人样本（N=1097），以评估该视频对非裔美国人相关态度与行为的影响，并设置了为期两周的追踪随访，以验证视频效应是否能够持续。研究结果显示，相较于对照组，该视频使被试对非裔美国人的态度得分提升了11%，且在向黑人男性分配金钱时的慷慨程度提升了104%。洗脱期结束后，两种干预效应均未消失，这表明高神经沉浸度视频或可成为大规模降低外群体偏见的有效手段。