Reducing Implicit Cognitive Biases Through the Performing Arts

Abstract

The aim of the present research was to test whether involvement in a 14-days training program in the performing arts could reduce implicit biases. We asked healthy participants to complete an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess biased attitudes to physical illness in two separate sessions, before and after the training program. Two separate control groups matched by age, gender and educational level completed the two IAT sessions, separated by same number of days, without being involved in the training program. Results showed that participants who were involved in the training program reduced their implicit bias toward illness measured through IAT in the second session. This reduction in IAT measures was not observed in the control samples, despite the two IAT measures being matched in temporal delay with the experimental group. These findings suggest that an interventional program based on the performing arts could be effective in reducing levels of implicit biases among the general population.

Disproven but still believed: The role of information and individual differences in the prediction of topic‐related pseudoscience acceptance

“…In particular, CAM beliefs are often promoted by authorities in the field of medicine (Posadzki et al, 2012), which could make the information received against them less effective if it does not come from a source with the same level of authority. In this sense, it has been suggested that resistant biases toward unsubstantiated beliefs might be better tackled by combining both adequate information from reliable sources and a first-person experience to help such information to be integrated (García-Arch et al, 2021). All these suggestions should be examined in future research in order to understand the differential effect of DI on different types of pseudoscience beliefs.…”