Less Biased yet More Defensive: The Impact of Control Processes

Educational and training programs designed to reduce racial bias often focus on increasing people's awareness of psychological sources of their biases. However, when people learn about their biases, they often respond defensively, which can undermine the effectiveness of antibias interventions and the success of prejudice regulation. Using process (Quad) modeling, we provide one of the first investigations of the relationships between (a) controlled and automatic cognitive processes that underpin performance on the Implicit Association Test and (b) defensive reactions to unflattering implicit racial bias feedback. In two correlational samples (one preregistered; N = 8,000) and one experiment in which the provision of bias feedback was manipulated (N = 547), we find racially biased associations and some control over these associations among White people. Nonetheless, more defensiveness to bias feedback consistently predicted weaker ability to control biased associations. We also find correlational evidence that lower levels of biased associations predict more defensiveness, but did not replicate this observation in the experimental study. These results are critical for theories of implicit attitudes, models of prejudice regulation, and strategies for antibias interventions. Public Significance StatementWe illuminate the psychological obstacles that undermine the kind of bias awareness that aids successful prejudice regulation and antibias interventions. Specifically, we answered an unaddressed question of theoretical and practical importance: How are biased associations and control processes related to defensive responding among those who receive unflattering implicit racial bias feedback? We find partial evidence that defensiveness is related to lower (vs. higher) levels of racially biased associations among White people. This finding joins recent research in challenging traditional assumptions about the unconscious nature of the Implicit Association Test. Additionally, we find that defensiveness was related to less control over biased responses. Thus, increasing perceived efficacy in controlling and regulating bias may be an effective approach to bias education and training. By reducing defensiveness, such an approach can promote bias awareness and therefore motivate increased commitment to fairness.