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. 2017 Apr 24;12(4):e0174965.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174965. eCollection 2017.

Virtual race transformation reverses racial in-group bias

Béatrice S Hasler  1 , Bernhard Spanlang  2 , Mel Slater  2   3   4
Affiliations

Virtual race transformation reverses racial in-group bias

Béatrice S Hasler et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

People generally show greater preference for members of their own racial group compared to racial out-group members. This type of 'in-group bias' is evident in mimicry behaviors. We tend to automatically mimic the behaviors of in-group members, and this behavior is associated with interpersonal sensitivity and empathy. However, mimicry is reduced when interacting with out-group members. Although race is considered an unchangeable trait, it is possible using embodiment in immersive virtual reality to engender the illusion in people of having a body of a different race. Previous research has used this technique to show that after a short period of embodiment of White people in a Black virtual body their implicit racial bias against Black people diminishes. Here we show that this technique powerfully enhances mimicry. We carried out an experiment with 32 White (Caucasian) female participants. Half were embodied in a White virtual body and the remainder in a Black virtual body. Each interacted in two different sessions with a White and a Black virtual character, in counterbalanced order. The results show that dyads with the same virtual body skin color expressed greater mimicry than those of different color. Importantly, this effect occurred depending on the virtual body's race, not participants' actual racial group. When embodied in a Black virtual body, White participants treat Black as their novel in-group and Whites become their novel out-group. This reversed in-group bias effect was obtained regardless of participants' level of implicit racial bias. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this surprising psychological phenomenon.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
The scenario (A) The physical setup showing the participant wearing a full body motion capture suit and the head-mounted display (B) The participant sees a picture displayed on the front wall and her virtual (Black) partner to her right. (C) The participant is embodied as Black, her virtual (White) partner is to her right, and she can see herself and her partner in the mirror (D) The participant is embodied as White and can see herself and her (Black) partner in the mirror. The virtual interaction partners are the same apart from skin color and clothing, as described in Methods.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Questionnaire responses on body ownership and agency.
(A) The questions related to ownership. (B) The questions related to agency. The medians are shown as the thick black horizontal lines, and the interquartile ranges (IQR) are the boxes. The whiskers extend from the quartiles ±1.5×IQR within the range of the data. Values outside of these ranges are shown as individual outliers.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Scatter diagram of change in IAT on liking by own body.
(A) After interaction with the Black virtual partner. (B) After interaction with the White virtual partner.
Fig 4
Fig 4
Bar charts of means and standard errors of the number of mimicry events by conditions (A) Comparing when Self and Other bodies have the same or different skin color (B) by the Self and Other Body conditions.
Fig 5
Fig 5
The virtual bodies (A) Own virtual body (White) (B) Own virtual body (Black) (C) Other virtual body (White) (D) Other virtual body (Black).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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