Social contexts and personal moral motives reduce implicit prejudice: A direct comparison

Abstract

The current research extends previous work (e.g., Blair, 2002; Lai et al., 2014; van Nunspeet, Ellemers, & Derks, 2015) by directly comparing the effectiveness of different contextual factors and personal motives on the reduction of implicit bias toward Muslim women in a 2 × 2 × 2 research design. Non-Muslim participants performed an implicit association test (IAT) for which the implications for their morality or competence were emphasized, and while their performance was evaluated by a minimal ingroup or outgroup member, who was either presented as a member of the devalued group (a woman with a headscarf) or not (a women without a headscarf). Study 1 revealed that performance monitoring by the evaluator with a headscarf resulted in significant bias reduction. Interestingly, in case of performance monitoring by an evaluator without a headscarf, emphasizing the moral implications of participant’s task performance was as effective. In Study 2, we replicated the first finding and found no significant bias toward Muslim women when participants’ IAT performance was evaluated by a woman with a headscarf. Additionally, the prolonged version of the IAT used in this study resulted in a further decrease in bias when the evaluator with a headscarf was presented as a minimal ingroup member. Important implications of the effectiveness of these contextual factors and personal motives are discussed with regard to their difference in level of applicability and implementation.