| In this dissertation, three studies examined whether the expression of racial bias can be reduced by exposing people to evidence that they expressed racial bias. The Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) was used to reveal participants' implicit bias because it is a robust reaction-time measure used to assess automatically activated biases. It was theorized that IAT performance feedback exposes individuals to discrepancies between their behavior and standards, which then motivates individuals to engage in discrepancy-reduction efforts. The three studies reported in this dissertation tested and provided support for two main hypotheses: (1) IAT performance feedback leads to a reduction in bias, and (2) a self-regulation process facilitates this effect. Results indicated that the type of IAT performance feedback that people received influenced the degree to which they corrected for racial bias in their judgments (Study 1) and that the receipt of IAT performance feedback played a central role in motivating discrepancy-reduction efforts (Study 2). These findings indicated that IAT performance feedback influenced affective and cognitive processing, but not the salience of people's egalitarian values (Study 3). The implications for contemporary prejudice research and organizations are considered. |
