Can a video game with a fictional minority group decrease intergroup biases towards non-fictional minorities? A social neuroscience study.

A critical scientific and societal challenge consists in developing and evaluating interventions that reduce prejudice towards outgroups. Video games appear to be a promising method but a number of falls in the current scientific literature prevents to fully understand the potential sizeable impact of video games on reducing prejudice. The present study investigated to what extent a video game designed to reduce prejudice towards minorities in a fictional society has the potential to reduce prejudice towards non-fictional minorities. Participants played either a recently developed game (Horns of Justice, HoJ) designed to reduce prejudice towards non-fictional minorities or a control game. After playing at home, participants performed two tasks in a lab context. We observed an overall positive effect of playing HoJ compared to the control game on attenuating prejudice towards an outgroup individual. We indeed observed that players of the control game had more midfrontal theta activity, reflecting more cognitive conflict, when they acted prosociality towards the outgroup participant and a lower neural response to the pain of the outgroup participant compared to the ingroup participant. These effects were attenuated for players of HoJ. We also observed that players of HoJ had a higher sense of agency when they decided to help the outgroup participant compared to when they did not help the outgroup participant, an effect not observable in players of the control game. These results are promising as they support evidence that using fictional characters in video game may induce positive changes on non-fictional individuals.

Effects of an 8-Week Mindfulness Course on Affective Polarization

Objectives The European Union Brexit referendum has split the British electorate into two camps, with high levels of affective polarization between those who affiliate with the Remain side (Remainers) and the Leave side (Leavers) of the debate. Previous research has shown that a brief meditation intervention can reduce affective polarization, but no study has thus far investigated the effects of an 8-week mindfulness program on affective polarization. This is what will be examined in this study. Methods The present study used a randomized waitlist control design (n = 177) with a 1-month post-intervention follow-up to investigate whether an 8-week mindfulness program delivered online would have an effect on affective polarization among Remainers and Leavers. Results Results showed significantly greater reductions in affective polarization over time for participants in the mindfulness condition relative to participants in the waitlist control condition (time X group B = − 0.087, p = .024). Conclusions Taken together, the findings highlight the potential of mindfulness training as a means to reduce intergroup biases in political contexts. Trial Registration Preregistered on the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/px8m2.

Reducing Prejudice Through Promoting Cross-Group Friendships

Around the globe, individuals are affected by exclusion, discrimination, and prejudice targeting individuals from racial, ethnic, and immigrant backgrounds as well as crimes based on gender, nationality, and culture (United Nations General Assembly, 2016). Unfortunately, children are often the targeted victims (Costello & Dillard, 2019). What is not widely understood is that the intergroup biases underlying systemic racism start long before adulthood with children displaying notable signs of intergroup bias, sometimes before entering grade school. Intergroup bias refers to the tendency to evaluate members of one’s own group more favorably than someone not identified with one’s group and is typically associated with prejudicial attitudes. Children are both the victims and the perpetrators of bias. In this review, we provide evidence of how biases emerge in childhood, along with an analysis of the significant role of intergroup friendships on enhancing children’s well-being and reducing prejudice in childhood. The review focuses predominantly on the context of race, with the inclusion of several other categories, such as nationality and religion. Fostering positive cross-group friendships in childhood helps to address the negative long-term consequences of racism, discrimination, and prejudice that emerges in childhood and continues through to adulthood.

Racial Categorization and Intergroup Relations in Children: The Role of Social Status and Numerical Group Size

The aim of this review was to examine the effect of social and numerical group size on racial categorization and intergroup relations in children. We first described the development of racial categorization and the factors that increase the saliency of the race criterion in different contexts. Then, we examine the role of social status in intergroups relations and show that low status children express lower ingroup favoritism compared to their peers from high status groups. Few studies investigated the role of ingroup size on intergroup biases. Here, we look at this numerical variable through the proportion of children of different racial groups in the school environment. The results show that homogeneous environments contribute to the decrease of bias and negative attitudes. We discuss how identifying specific and interactive effects of the social and numerical group size would allow us to implement early and efficient intervention programs.

Understanding Intergroup Relations in Childhood and Adolescence

There are various theoretical approaches for understanding intergroup biases among children and adolescents. This article focuses on the social identity approach and argues that existing research will benefit by more fully considering the implications of this approach for examining intergroup relations among youngsters. These implications include (a) the importance of self-categorization, (b) the role of self-stereotyping and group identification, (c) the relevance of shared understandings and developing ingroup consensus, and (d) the importance of coordinated action for positive and negative intergroup relations. These implications of the social identity approach suggest several avenues for investigating children’s and adolescents’ intergroup relations that have not been fully appreciated in the existing literature. However, there are also limitations to the social identity approach for the developmental understanding and some of these are discussed.

Group Dynamics in Online Games: A Literature Review in Terms of Social Identity, Conformity to Norms and Social Behavior

Online multiplayer games offer players social opportunities such as meeting and communicating with new people or being part of a team. From the point of group dynamics, the players develop dynamics similar to real life in the game environment. Players develop social identity based on the team membership in the game, create norms and conform to the norms in the team. Also, it is observed that players generally exhibit in group favoritism in the game environment; they have adopted norms containing prejudices against out group members; and it is seen that they carry some real life stereotypes into the game environment. Accordingly, the players may exhibit negative behaviors between groups in the game environment. Besides, findings indicate that in some cases, intergroup biases can be reduced and positive outcomes can be obtained in games, in terms of group dynamics. In this article, firstly, some findings of the literature on social identity acquisition, norm development and negative behaviors between groups are given and the features of games that encourage negative norms and behaviors are mentioned. Then, in the light of the findings in the literature, suggestions were made to improve the negative group dynamics in games. In this respect, the article can give readers an idea about group dynamics in online multiplayer games; it is thought that it can shed light to researchers and game producers on how to create more positive game environments and, beyond this, how games can be used to give people positive behavior. Keywords: Online multiplayer game, social identity, norm, group behavior

How robust is the cognitive-ecological explanation of intergroup biases? A preregistered direct replication of Alves, Koch and Unkelbach (2018

Intergroup bias and conflict are significant and multidimensional societal challenges that require compound explanations. Recently, Alves et al. (2018) proposed a cognitive-ecological explanation for intergroup bias, which states that biases are formed based on the interaction between the basic cognitive principles of learning and the structure of the information ecology. As part of the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program, the present study consisted of a one-stage replication test of the central finding of Alves et al (2018). In this high-powered, preregistered replication of their study (analytic N = 361), we lent support to their novel explanation by replicating their main findings with different samples in a different context (Cohen’s w = .25). Thus, the current work supports the robustness of the cognitive-ecological model and gives directions for further research into how the cognitive-ecological model could expand research on intergroup bias, both towards and beyond novel groups.

Mindfulness and intergroup bias: A systematic review

People’s proclivity for favoring their ingroups over outgroups has negative consequences for individuals, groups, and societies. Social psychologists have explored a variety of techniques to reduce these intergroup biases. Emerging research suggests that mindfulness may be effective for this purpose. Mindfulness is defined as present-moment attention and awareness with an accepting attitude, and it is often cultivated through meditation. Our systematic review of the mindfulness-intergroup literature suggests that, across the heterogeneity of paradigms, mindfulness attenuates intergroup bias. Supporting this supposition, for all studies in the current review, regardless of operationalization of mindfulness (i.e., mindfulness-based intervention, brief mindfulness induction, expert meditators, dispositional mindfulness), the overall effect size was g = +.29 ( k-number of studies = 36; 95% CI [0.20, 0.39]; Z = 5.94, p < .0001), suggesting a small but significant effect of mindfulness on improved levels of intergroup bias. In the current work, we review the eligible studies and their findings in detail and conclude by discussing critical issues and implications for future research.