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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine whether individuals who actively assumed the role of an African American avatar in a video game had reduced levels of implicit bias towards African Americans when compared to individuals exposed to a traditional passive, perspective- taking intervention. A randomized-controlled design was employed to assign participants to either the experimental or control condition. The experimental condition consisted of a single player, online video game designed to encourage active perspective taking. Participants in the experimental condition played the role of Jamal, an African American graduate student in a science department. Participants in the control condition were directed to a website with an image of Jamal, along with a narrative description of the events that occur in the video game. All participants were asked to imagine that they were Jamal as they read through the text or played the game. All participants were given a race Implicit Association Test (IAT), along with measures of engagement, video game use, perspective taking, empathy, awareness of bias and a demographic questionnaire. There were no significant differences in level of implicit bias, perspective taking, or awareness of bias. There was a significant difference in empathy, with participants in the control condition reporting more empathy for Jamal than those in the experimental condition. Among participants in the game condition, increased empathy for Jamal was related to lower implicit racial bias.