Author(s)

Robert Livingston

Brian Drwecki

Two studies investigated the psychological underpinnings of racial nonbias, defined as extremely low or null bias on measures of implicit and explicit racial attitudes. Study 1 demonstrated that racially nonbiased Whites showed differential susceptibility to affective conditioning compared with participants with more ordinary levels of bias. A significant two-way interaction emerged, indicating that nonbiased individuals were significantly less likely than ordinary individuals to acquire negative affect to neutral stimuli in a classical conditioning paradigm, but were more likely to acquire positive affect to neutral stimuli. Study 2 replicated this pattern of findings using a procedure in which the identification of nonbiased Whites was facilitated by their nomination by an African American acquaintance. Implications for bias formation and prejudice reduction are discussed.
Date Published: 2007
Citations: Livingston, Robert, Brian Drwecki. 2007. Why are some individuals not racially biased? Susceptibility to affective conditioning predicts nonprejudice toward Blacks. Psychological Science. (9)816-823.