Ch 13.13, 13.14 & 13.15- Reducing Bias + Changing Attitudes + The Central Route

Reducing Implicit Bias

Reprogramming through practice

Explicit training to unlearn stereotypical associations

Virtual reality training

• shoot/don’t shoot simulations (training officers based on threats not cues)

• empathy training (create scenarios that de-escalate situations/ stay away from violent decisions)

Contact Hypothesis

predicts that social contact between members of different groups is extremely important to overcoming prejudice

-Face memory and recognition skills depends on the diversity of faces we are exposed to during development

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Dual-process model of when and how we become persuaded - implicit and explicit processes. Route of persuasion depends on whether we have motivation and time to process an argument

Central route: explicit processes, engaging with others logic, thinking about presented arguments, high effort put in results in lasting change in attitude

Peripheral route: implicit processes, lacking motivation or time, low effort put in results in temporary change in attitude

Central route vs Peripheral route to persuasion

1. Makes use of substantive arguments and requires attentiveness of the audience to evaluate the arguments logic - climate change = scientists giving facts & evidence to convince people to change

2. Makes use of style, is easier to process quickly; activates people’s feelings. Return of Dunning-Kruger - appeal to our common sense and intuition, people who know the least believe they know the most

Construal level theory

information affects us differently depending on our psychological distance from the information - how personally connected we feel to something, more motivated about local situations, presence in time, etc.

Values appeals and the importance of avoiding false consensus effect - we believe our values are everyones, but that differs. we have to construct arguments towards target audience rather than ourselves

Identifiable Victim Effect

People are more affected by the story of a single suffering person, rather than by information about a whole group

Experiential system: operates implicitly, is predominantly emotional - based on emotions and instincts

Analytic system: operates explicitly, acts more slowly and methodically, uses logical processes - based on conscious processes

Attitude Inoculation

Strategy for strengthening attitudes and making them resistant to change by first exposing people to a weak counter-argument and then refuting that argument (ex: gay people are unnatural, when 450 species are gay but only our species thinks it’s wrong)

Can be used for good or evil (make argument extreme to make it seem ridiculous)

Damaging the Central Route

Central route can be hindered by:

message complexity - if it’s too complex or overwhelming you just shut off your attention, zone-out, find holes in your argument, etc

negative emotions and processing fluency - not using facts or logic but playing on nostalgia