Changes in Implicit Racial Attitudes after Incorporating an Other-Race Body in an Immersive Virtual Reality Setup (IMAGE)
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Light-skinned Caucasian participants took part in a between-groups experiment where they occupied a white (A) or black (B) body in a virtual environment. They could see their body from a first-person perspective when they looked down, as well as in a virtual mirror (see Figure 1C, ii). Two control groups were also included -- in these conditions, participants either had no virtual body (C), or the body was of an unnatural purple color (D) to control for general dissimilarity to their own skin. Participants' implicit racial biases were measured before and after embodiment. Participants who embodied a black avatar showed a decrease in their implicit biases against black individuals, which was significantly greater than for those who embodied a white avatar. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean.
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<i>Trends in Cognitive Sciences</i>, Maister et al.
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