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A video intervention reduces racial bias in a representative sample of US adults: A brain as predictor study

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  • Yilong Wang
  • Paul J Zak

Abstract

Biased attitudes and behaviors towards racial minorities in the US are pervasive, enduring, and detrimental. We tested whether a video illustrating the negative effects of racial bias towards African-Americans would influence short-term and medium-term attitudes and behaviors towards this group. In Experiment 1, a high-impact video was identified by measuring neurologic Immersion in the laboratory (N = 62). Experiment 2 then recruited a representative sample of US adults (N = 1097) to assess the video’s impact on attitudes and behaviors towards African-Americans relative to participants who watched a neutral control video. A two-week follow up study was also done to determine if effects of the treatment video persisted. At baseline, young participants, men, and Republicans, had the statistically highest attitudinal bias towards African-Americans. We found that the treatment video improved average self-reported attitudes towards Black Americans by 11% (p

Suggested Citation

  • Yilong Wang & Paul J Zak, 2026. "A video intervention reduces racial bias in a representative sample of US adults: A brain as predictor study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(2), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0339057
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0339057
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Eun Lee & Fariba Karimi & Claudia Wagner & Hang-Hyun Jo & Markus Strohmaier & Mirta Galesic, 2019. "Homophily and minority-group size explain perception biases in social networks," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(10), pages 1078-1087, October.
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