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Originally Posted by juan valdez
I don't think it's too surprising that in-group/out-group biases in general (not just with race) are tied to anxiety, and so it's not too surprising that altering brain chemistry in a way that reduces anxiety reduces the expression of bias against out-group members, although I have to say that the idea of achieving positive social outcomes by drugging everyone sounds like the stuff of a dystopian sci-fi future.
I'd suggest alternatively that this result also supports the conclusions often drawn about the rapid growth of acceptance of homosexuality, i.e. that it was a result of heterosexual people having greatly increasing contact with LGBT people. Knowing people as people and not as abstract social categories makes it easier to associate them with an in-group. Familiarity reduces anxiety. With regard to race, this suggests that the high level of segregation in US society is one of the larger forces sustaining race-based anxieties. Decreasing segregation might decrease anxiety without chemical help.
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Originally Posted by juan valdez
I hadn't read this particular article but I'm aware of (and have previously expressed) that the IAT is not a predictor of discrimination:
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Originally Posted by well named
I think we're evaluating the implicit bias test against different expectations. I've never referred to it as a demonstration of the existence of racism, for example. I don't consider it a test of bigotry either, re: behavioral correlates.
Last edited by well named; 01-15-2017 at 01:56 PM.