Experiencing ownership over a dark-skinned body reduces implicit racial bias
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In: Cognition, Vol. 128, No. 2, 08.2013, p. 170-8.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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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 -