Changing bodies changes minds: Owning another body affects social cognition

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Electronic versions

  • Lara Maister
    Royal Holloway University of London
  • Mel Slater
  • Maria V Sanchez-Vives
  • Manos Tsakiris

Research on stereotypes demonstrates how existing prejudice affects the way we process outgroups. Recent studies have considered whether it is possible to change our implicit social bias by experimentally changing the relationship between the self and outgroups. In a number of experimental studies, participants have been exposed to bodily illusions that induced ownership over a body different to their own with respect to gender, age, or race. Ownership of an outgroup body has been found to be associated with a significant reduction in implicit biases against that outgroup. We propose that these changes occur via a process of self association that first takes place in the physical, bodily domain as an increase in perceived physical similarity between self and outgroup member. This self association then extends to the conceptual domain, leading to a generalization of positive self-like associations to the outgroup.

Keywords

  • Group Processes, Humans, Illusions, Prejudice, Self Concept, Social Perception, User-Computer Interface
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6-12
Number of pages7
JournalTrends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume19
Issue number1
Early online date15 Dec 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2015
Externally publishedYes
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