A new study from scholars at Harvard University and the University of Amsterdam has investigated how racial prejudices can be passed along through observing others’ behavior. The authors conducted several experiments in which participants were asked to observe interactions between people who were aware of stereotypes (demonstrators) and people from the stereotyped groups (targets).
In one phase of the study, participants observed a money-sharing interaction between a demonstrator and targets from two social groups, aligning with positive or negative stereotypes of White and Black Americans. The demonstrator picked one target to interact with based on their stereotype association, who then decided whether or not to share their reward. On average, they picked the target associated with the positive stereotype. The participants who observed the interaction were then asked to make their own choice. They tended to align their decision with the demonstrator’s choice, regardless of the target’s behavior.
The authors conducted additional experiments regarding the same scenario with slight differences in the information provided to the participants. In one scenario, participants observed the same scenario, but this time the demonstrators’ displayed more overt bias in their decision-making. Another scenario provided participants with specific information regarding the stereotypes associated with the chosen and unchosen targets. Despite this extra information and clear display of prejudice, the participants still tended to align their choice with the demonstrator’s choice. The same pattern was found when the authors used an AI demonstrator rather than a human.
The authors believe their results illuminate a pathway for individual prejudice to spread to others, communities, and society at large. They write, “These findings thus raise new questions regarding the interplay of individual, dyadic, and systemic modes of prejudice formation, and while advancing our understanding of social learning, they pose new challenges for interventions aimed at prejudice reduction.”
