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Study 1

The primary goal of Study 1 was to provide an initial demonstration of the impact of training to approach Blacks on identification with Blacks using an IAT. [...]

Method

Participants and design. Fifty (35 female and 15 male) non-Black undergraduate students took part in the experiment for course credit. [...] Participants were randomly assigned to training condition (approach Blacks vs. avoid Blacks vs. sideways control) in a between-subjects design.

Procedure. Upon arrival, participants were informed that they would be participating in a series of separate studies that in reality were all part of the same experiment. In the first study, participants were asked to respond to photographs of Blacks and Whites to ostensibly investigate theories of cognitive processes. In actual fact, this study was designed to train participants to approach, avoid, or respond in a neutral way to Blacks. In the second study, participants completed an identification IAT designed to assess the strength of association between the self and Blacks.

Approach training task. For this task, participants were seated in front of a personal computer and received instructions on how to push and pull a joystick in relation to photographs of Blacks and Whites presented on the computer screen. [...] Participants in the approach Blacks condition were shown how to respond to photographs of Blacks with a demonstration of the exact joystick pulling motion. [...] In contrast, participants in the avoid Blacks condition were given the opposite instructions. These participants were shown how to respond to photographs of Blacks by pushing a joystick and to respond to photographs of Whites by pulling a joystick. Participants in a sideways control condition, alternatively, were shown how to move the joystick to the left and right in response to photographs of Blacks and Whites. [...] Each trial of the training task began with the presentation of a Black or White face on the computer screen. The face remained on the computer screen until participants responded with the joystick. After correct responses, participants were presented with a blank screen for 1,000 ms before the start of the next trial. After incorrect responses, participants were presented with a blank screen for 100 ms followed by a red X for 800 ms and another blank screen for 100 ms before the start of the next trial. [...]

Implicit association test. After completing the training task, participants were presented with an identification IAT to assess the strength of association between the self and Blacks. In this task, participants were required to categorize photographs of Blacks and Whites along with words related to the self and others. [...] In one critical block, participants were instructed to use one key to categorize Blacks and words related to the self and another key to categorize Whites and words related to others. In the other critical block, these pairings were reversed such that participants were instructed to use one key to categorize Whites and words related to the self and another key to categorize Blacks and words related to others. When participants made a correct response, they were presented with a blank screen for 1,000 ms before the start of the next trial. When participants made an incorrect response, however, they were presented with a blank screen for 100 ms followed by the presentation of a red X in the center of the screen for 800 ms and then another blank screen for 100 ms before the start of the next trial. [...]

Study 2

While the results from Study 1 provide an initial demonstration that extensive training in approaching Blacks can strengthen associations between the self and Blacks, the primary goal of Study 2 was to examine whether approach training also modifies the characteristics that are associated with Blacks. [...]

Method

Participants and design. Seventy-six (17 male and 59 female) non-Black undergraduate students from diverse ethnic backgrounds (41 White, 22 East Asian, and 13 South Asian) took part in the experiment in exchange for course credit. Participants were randomly assigned to condition in a Training (approach Blacks vs. avoid Blacks) x Agent (move the self vs. move the target) between-subjects design.

Procedure. Participants were first instructed to complete an online survey to assess the extent to which they ascribed specific traits to themselves. One week later, participants were presented with the main experiment in the laboratory. Although this latter study was composed of three interrelated studies, participants were informed that they would be completing a series of separate experiments that had been combined to make better use of the participant pool. The first task was designed to train participants to approach or avoid Blacks. Subsequent tasks, alternatively, were designed to assess associations between the self and Blacks and associations between traits ascribed to the self and Blacks.

Personally descriptive traits questionnaire. In an initial online survey, participants were asked to rate the extent to which they associated a series of traits with themselves from 1 (not at all) to 9 (completely). Twenty of these traits were positive (e.g., moral, loyal, reliable, kind) and twenty traits were negative (e.g., greedy, arrogant, boring, rude). In addition, participants were asked to provide three positive and three negative traits they believed best described themselves. [...]

Approach training. Approximately one week after this initial session, participants were seated in individual cubicles in front of a personal computer to complete the main experiment. In the first task, participants were trained to approach and avoid Blacks and Whites using an on-screen slider. [...] Dependent upon condition, the participants’ task was to use an on-screen slider to move the two circles so that they either completely overlapped (approach) or were as far apart as possible (avoidance). [...] participants were randomly assigned to an agent condition. In the move the self condition, the center circle represented the self, and participants controlled the movement of the self toward or away from Blacks and Whites. In the move the target condition, alternatively, the center circle represented either the Black or White target, and participants controlled the movement of this target toward or away from the self. [...] When participants made correct responses, they were presented with a blank screen for 1,000 ms before the start of the next trial. In contrast, when participants made incorrect responses, they were presented with a blank screen for 100 ms followed by a screen with a red X in the center for 800 ms and finally a blank screen for 100 ms before beginning the next trial.

Implicit association tests. After the training session, all participants were presented with two IATs. The order of presentation of the IATs was counterbalanced across participants. One IAT was designed to assess the strength of association between the self and Blacks and was identical to the one utilized in Study 1. The other IAT was designed to assess the strength of association between traits participants strongly ascribed to the self and Blacks. Specifically, in this latter task, participants were required to categorize six photographs of Blacks (three male and three female), six photographs of Whites (three male and three female), and six traits strongly ascribed to the self and six traits weakly ascribed to the self. In particular, each participant completed a unique IAT that contained three positive and three negative traits that participants had previously rated as most strongly descriptive of themselves on the rankings and the scale ratings and three positive and three negative traits participants had rated as least descriptive of themselves. Along with three practice blocks of trials, participants were presented with two critical blocks of trials, the order of which was counterbalanced across participants. In one critical block, participants were instructed to use the same key to categorize Blacks and traits strongly descriptive of the self and another key to categorize Whites and words weakly related to the self. In the other critical block, these pairings were reversed such that participants were instructed to use one key to categorize Whites and traits strongly related to the self and another key to categorize Blacks and traits weakly descriptive of the self. [...]

Study 3

While Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that training in approaching Blacks increased associations between the self and Blacks utilizing reaction time tasks, the primary goal of Study 3 was to extend these findings by examining the effects of approach training on electrocortical responses. In particular, an oddball task was used in which we examined the amplitude of a stimulus-locked ERP component, the P300, to photographs of Blacks in the context of self-images. [...]

Method

Participants and design. Twenty-seven (14 male and 13 female) non-Black undergraduate students from diverse ethnic backgrounds (eight White, 12 East Asian, and seven South Asian) completed the experiment for course credit. Participants were randomly assigned to training condition (approach Blacks vs. avoid Blacks) in a between-subjects design.

Procedure. 

Approach training task. To complete the training task, participants were seated in front of a personal computer and asked to respond to photographs of Blacks and Whites presented on a computer screen with a joystick. While this training was similar to the task used in Study 1, the instructions were modified. [...] participants in the approach Blacks condition were explicitly instructed to [Verbal Stimulus A] when presented with photographs of Blacks and to [Verbal Stimulus B] when presented with photographs of Whites. Conversely, participants in the avoid Blacks condition were explicitly instructed to [Verbal Stimulus C] when presented with photographs of Whites and to [Verbal Stimulus D] when presented with photographs of Blacks. [...]

Oddball task. After the training, all participants completed a modified version of an oddball task while an electroencephalograph (EEG) recorded their electrocortical responses. During this task, participants were required to categorize photographs of themselves and fellow students as “me” or “not me” with a button box. This task included 10 photographs of the student taken at the beginning of the session in standardized poses along with similar photographs of five Black students and five White students. For South Asian and East Asian students, ingroup stimuli were included that comprised five photographs of South Asian students or five photographs of East Asian students, respectively. For Whites, ingroup stimuli comprised five additional photographs of White students. [...] Participants completed 240 sequences of five photographs in four blocks of 60 sequences each. [...] While participants completed the oddball task, EEG was recorded from 32 Ag/AgCl sintered electrodes embedded in a stretch-lycra cap. Vertical eye movements (VEOG) were monitored via a supra- to suborbital bipolar montage. [...]

Study 4

The results from Studies 1–3 provide evidence that training in approaching Blacks can change the relationship between the self and Blacks. The primary goal of Study 4 was to investigate the link between previous research related to approach orientations and prejudice and the current findings. In particular, recent theorizing has suggested that after forming new associations between a chosen object and the self, evaluations related to the self may transfer to the object. [...]

Method

Participants and design.

Sixty-one (16 male and 45 female) non-Black undergraduate students from diverse ethnic backgrounds (29 White, 11 East Asian, and 21 South Asian) took part in the experiment in exchange for course credit. Participants were randomly assigned to training condition (approach Blacks vs. sideways control) in a between-subjects design.

Procedure. [...]

Approach training task. The approach training in Study 4 was identical to Study 3. In particular, participants were seated in front of a personal computer and asked to respond to photographs of Blacks and Whites presented on the computer screen with a joystick. [...]

Implicit association tests. After the training session, all participants were presented with two IATs. [...] One IAT was the same as in Study 1 and was used to assess the strength of association between the self and Blacks. The other IAT was designed to assess the strength of association between Blacks and positive concepts. Specifically, in this latter implicit attitudes task, participants were required to categorize photographs of Blacks and Whites along with positive and negative concepts. The stimuli included six photographs of Blacks (three male and three female), six photographs of Whites (three male and three female), four positive concepts (i.e., love, cheer, peace, and happy), and four negative concepts (i.e., evil, pain, vomit, and hate). Specifically, along with three practice blocks of trials, participants were presented with two critical blocks of trials, the order of which was counterbalanced across participants. In one critical block, participants were instructed to use the same key to categorize Blacks and positive concepts and another key to categorize Whites and negative concepts. In the other critical block, these pairings were reversed such that participants were instructed to use one key to categorize Whites and positive concepts and another key to categorize Blacks and negative concepts. [...]