TY - JOUR

T1 - Experiencing ownership over a dark-skinned body reduces implicit racial bias

AU - Maister, Lara

AU - Sebanz, Natalie

AU - Knoblich, Günther

AU - Tsakiris, Manos

N1 - Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PY - 2013/8

Y1 - 2013/8

N2 - Previous studies have investigated how existing social attitudes towards other races affect the way we 'share' their bodily experiences, for example in empathy for pain, and sensorimotor mapping. Here, we ask whether it is possible to alter implicit racial attitudes by experimentally increasing self-other bodily overlap. Employing a bodily illusion known as the 'Rubber Hand Illusion', we delivered multisensory stimulation to light-skinned Caucasian participants to induce the feeling that a dark-skinned hand belonged to them. We then measured whether this could change their implicit racial biases against people with dark skin. Across two experiments, the more intense the participants' illusion of ownership over the dark-skinned rubber hand, the more positive their implicit racial attitudes became. Importantly, it was not the pattern of multisensory stimulation per se, but rather, it was the change in the subjective experience of body ownership that altered implicit attitudes. These findings suggest that inducing an overlap between the bodies of self and other through illusory ownership is an effective way to change and reduce negative implicit attitudes towards outgroups.

AB - Previous studies have investigated how existing social attitudes towards other races affect the way we 'share' their bodily experiences, for example in empathy for pain, and sensorimotor mapping. Here, we ask whether it is possible to alter implicit racial attitudes by experimentally increasing self-other bodily overlap. Employing a bodily illusion known as the 'Rubber Hand Illusion', we delivered multisensory stimulation to light-skinned Caucasian participants to induce the feeling that a dark-skinned hand belonged to them. We then measured whether this could change their implicit racial biases against people with dark skin. Across two experiments, the more intense the participants' illusion of ownership over the dark-skinned rubber hand, the more positive their implicit racial attitudes became. Importantly, it was not the pattern of multisensory stimulation per se, but rather, it was the change in the subjective experience of body ownership that altered implicit attitudes. These findings suggest that inducing an overlap between the bodies of self and other through illusory ownership is an effective way to change and reduce negative implicit attitudes towards outgroups.

KW - Adult

KW - Attitude

KW - Body Image/psychology

KW - Continental Population Groups/psychology

KW - European Continental Ancestry Group/psychology

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Illusions/psychology

KW - Male

KW - Racism/psychology

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.04.002

DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.04.002

M3 - Article

C2 - 23680793

VL - 128

SP - 170

EP - 178

JO - Cognition

JF - Cognition

SN - 0010-0277

IS - 2

ER -