Search

Illicit opioid use is a public health problem that results in substantial costs to society. Heroin dependent women are especially at risk as opioid addiction takes a different and more deleterious trajectory in this population, including complications during pregnancy, neonatal death, engaging in risky sexual behavior and having romantic partners dissuade treatment entry. As such, efforts are needed to improve our understanding of the underlying decision-making processes that perpetuate opioid use. One potential factor are implicit opioid-related associations and their potential to override conscious decision-making efforts. The present study sought to measure the temporal stability of implicit opioid-related cognitions before and during residential treatment over a period of 30 days in a sample of opioid addicted women using a modified Implicit Association Test that included fewer classification words. A modified IAT, with fewer classification words, was used due to concerns about the effects of high cognitive load in a recently sober sample. Using a convenience sample, opioid addicted women were compared to an opioid-naive control. Results from the study indicated no differences across conditions or over time. Implicit opioid-related cognitions were not significantly different between addicted and nonaddicted populations, nor did they change after 30 days. Overall findings suggest that attentional bias, as assessed with the modified IAT, towards opioids does not significantly change as a result of substance abuse treatment, nor does it significantly differ between addicted and non-addicted populations. These results require replication using a standard IAT.

IT companies are spending millions of dollars a year on diversity training to try to increase their population of underrepresented minorities and women. Much of the current training centers on historical prejudice, shaming, and divisive diversity rhetoric. The research has shown this is not effective. In addition, a large part of the present training is focused solely on creating awareness of implicit bias, which I found in my research is not enough to evoke change. My findings show that a longer, interactive workshop following a process model was successful. By breaking down the elements of the process model into unfreeze, change, and refreeze, I was able to determine the role and impact of each element on change and to identify transformational conversation as a successful tool for shifting the perspectives of the participants and weakening implicit bias. Consistent with Contact Theory, it was through transformational conversation that participants suspended their own social identity and perspective and considered that of another participant, which fostered change. The final part of the model, refreeze, focused on participants making plans to sustain the learning. Through these findings, I have created a successful process model for change in implicit bias and introduced a new tool, transformational conversation. In addition, I have forwarded our thinking on how to employ shifts in implicit bias within a group of people with heterogeneous social identities.

There are clear racial disparities in police violence such that being Black puts one at a higher risk of being killed by police (Mapping Police Violence, 2016). One hypothesized mechanism for this disparity is “shooter bias”, which refers to the tendency to shoot unarmed Black men more often, and armed Black men more quickly, than Whites in a shoot/no-shoot task (Correll, Hudson, Guillermo, & Ma, 2014). The current project addressed four potential influences on threat perception and shooting decision-making (biological complexity, implicit racial bias, armed status, and distance). A novel, yet simple, bias awareness feedback method as a potential intervention to reduce discriminatory shooting was also tested. Participants viewed a series of Black and White, armed and unarmed avatars at various distance locations in two experiments. In Exp. 1, participants judged each avatar in terms of threat level while in Exp. 2, participants made shooting decisions, both in virtual reality using a hand held controller. Feedback was given on the shoot/no-shoot task between two trial blocks. Heart rate was measured via the Empatica E4 and implicit bias was measured via a mouse-tracking version of the IAT using the MouseTracker Software. Participants demonstrated stronger associations for stereotype congruent pairings of race and armed status and had higher heart rate during incongruent trial blocks of the IAT. In Exp. 1, results revealed main effects of distance, race, and armed status (no interaction effects) such that armed avatars and closer distances produced the highest threat ratings. White avatars were perceived as more threatening than Black avatars. In Exp. 2, results revealed that participants performed more accurately for White targets than Black targets and held the trigger down for longer (and were more variable) when the target was Black. These trigger pull dynamics were also related to dynamic measures of implicit bias. Finally, performance feedback, resulted in improved performance (i.e., correct shoot/no-shoot decisions). Moreover, participant post-feedback trigger pull dynamics were no longer associated with implicit bias. The results of the pre-experimental testing demonstrated that participant heart rate increased (i.e., higher arousal/stress) during stereotype incongruent trials, illustrating the potential link between arousal and implicit bias. Exp. 1 demonstrated that threat perception was related to armed status and distance. However, participants rated Whites avatars as more threatening than Black avatars, indicating that threat perception can be influenced by social desirability concerns (i.e., aversive racism. The results of Exp. 2, however, were largely consistent with the hypothesis that Black avatars would produce biased shooting performance and shooting dynamics compared to White avatars. The results of Exp. 2, also validated the modified VR paradigm for measuring shoot/no-shoot decision making and the more nuanced dynamical measures of shooter bias employed (i.e., trigger dynamics). Furthermore, results implicated trigger pull dynamics as the underlying link between implicit bias and shooting decision making. Importantly, the results of Exp. 2 also demonstrated that racial differences in shooting behavior may be altered by a simple bias awareness feedback intervention that disrupts the association between race and weapons.