Changing the narrative: stories reduce biases against anomalous faces

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Stigma Research

Background:

• Facial anomalies are often associated with negative stereotypes, impacting social perceptions of warmth and morality.
• The "anomalous-is-bad" stereotype links visible differences to negative traits.
• Automatic evaluations, or implicit biases, can perpetuate social stigma.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test the "Normalizing Anomalies with Mobile Exposure" (NAME) intervention.
• To investigate if repeated exposure to faces with visible anomalies and positive narratives can shift automatic evaluations.
• To assess the impact of the intervention on both implicit and explicit attitudes.

Main Methods:

• A between-subjects design was employed with two intervention groups.
• Participants received daily mobile app sessions for five consecutive days.
• One group viewed faces with visible anomalies paired with praiseworthy narratives; the control group viewed typical faces with similar narratives.

Main Results:

• Implicit evaluations of targeted faces became more positive over the intervention period.
• The group exposed to anomalous faces showed the most significant target-specific improvement in implicit attitudes.
• Explicit attitudes did not show significant changes.

Conclusions:

• Exposure-based storytelling via mobile applications can effectively alter automatic evaluations of individuals with facial anomalies.
• The NAME intervention offers a scalable approach to reducing stigma related to visible differences.
• Further research is needed to confirm the durability and generalizability of these findings to diverse populations.