Oppressed Groups Engender Implicit Positivity: Seven Demonstrations Using Novel and Familiar Targets.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Attitude Formation
• Implicit Bias Research

Background:

• Understanding how historical narratives influence implicit social attitudes is crucial.
• Previous research has explored attitude change, but the impact of extreme negative historical information on implicit evaluations requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine whether exposure to historical narratives of group oppression affects implicit social group evaluations.
• To investigate the conditions under which implicit attitudes update in response to negative historical information.

Main Methods:

• Conducted seven preregistered online studies with over 5,000 adult participants.
• Measured implicit evaluations of social groups after participants were exposed to historical narratives detailing group oppression.
• Utilized diverse targets, including fictitious, well-known, and self-relevant social groups.

Main Results:

• Implicit evaluations of oppressed groups generally shifted toward positivity after exposure to negative historical narratives.
• This positivity shift occurred across various target types, including well-known and self-relevant groups.
• An exception was observed in a study on US slavery, where implicit race attitudes among White and Black Americans did not change.

Conclusions:

• Implicit social evaluations can update toward positivity when confronted with highly negative information about past oppression.
• The findings support propositional perspectives on attitude updating.
• Macro-level factors, such as public awareness of historical events, can significantly modulate implicit attitude changes.