Bias-reduction training shifts awareness and action more than measured implicit bias itself

Evidence

Most implicit bias trainings move from providing information about what implicit bias is to general strategies that can be used to reduce bias or mitigate its behavioral effects. While the information about implicit bias and identifying strategies that can be used may raise awareness about the issue, research suggests that this awareness is not sufficient to lead to behavior change (Lai et al., 2017). In addition, those who work with Perception Institute hold the concern that concluding a workshop with merely generic interventions may actually exacerbate the effects of race and ethnicity differences. … As noted in the introduction, it is our theory of change that institutions must grapple simultaneously with implicit bias, “identity anxiety,” and stereotype threat and that the interventions must be carefully tailored to the decision points and consequential interactions that are most critical. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1369

Devine and colleagues conducted research in 2012 showing that performing a series of steps could “break the prejudice habit” (Devine et al. 2012) and reduce implicit biases. In a replication with a larger sample, Forscher and colleagues did not find a significant difference in the bias reduction between those who engaged in the strategies and the control, but they did find that the “prejudice habit-breaking intervention causes its recipients to recognize bias and its consequences for minorities, then address it in the world around them” (Forscher et al., 2017, p. 143). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1393

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that generic interventions ‘may actually exacerbate’ race effects is contested and needs a mechanism — is this evidence-based or perception?
• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s question about rational/moral correction backfiring against threat-hardened beliefs — awareness-raising training as failed correction.
• SEED: Angle: implicit-bias training as an object lesson — the backfire of well-intentioned generic interventions on measured bias.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1369; Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1393