Reducing Implicit Prejudice (RIP) Lab
Overview
In social psychological terms, prejudice is conceptualized as a negative evaluation of an individual based on their group membership. In the RIP lab we are interested in how individuals react to feedback indicating that they are prejudiced (or not). Our laboratory research to data has found that a substantial portion of participants were unsurprised and indifferent to feedback indicating that they are prejudiced. Another line of research shows that, individuals who score high on a measure of modern racism are more likely to choose to read a personality summary that describes them as biased compared to those who score low. The results of this laboratory research is complemented by an archival analysis of a large-scale survey research project (Harvard University’s Project Implicit) that shows that participants are more accepting of feedback about their implicit attitudes that is consistent with their explicit attitudes. Overall, these findings contradict the dominant view among social psychologists that racism has gone “underground.”
Current Projects
- Reactions to the IAT
- Self-verification of prejudice
- Project Implicit (Archival)