Cultivating Equal Minds: Laws and Policies as (De)biasing Social Interventions

Abstract

To address issues of bias and discrimination in many areas of social life, scientists have developed a variety of strategies to debias people's minds and reduce discrimination and the disparities that stem from it. A large body of research has documented, however, that debias trainings have short-lived effects on changing patterns of thinking (i.e., they last less than 24 hours) and minimal effects on behaviors. In this article, I argue that such limited effects of one-time trainings are to be expected, given the segregated and stratified social structure we live in that was created by historic and contemporary laws and policies. After explaining the mechanisms through which laws and policies create biased people, I then explain how laws and policies can instead be used as levers to create long-lasting changes in biases.