Sleep Train To Reduce Racism And Sexism

A team of researchers suggests that by manipulating the way the brain learns during sleep, racism and sexism can be reduced.

18:43 29 May 2015

A team at Northwestern University in Chicago attempted to reduce the level of racism and sexism, by manipulating the way the brain learns during sleep. The experiment involved playing sounds while people slept to trigger and enforce memories of an exercise earlier in the day. The results of the study, which was participated by 40 people, were published in the journal Science. 

 

Prof Ken Paller, the director of the cognitive neuroscience programme at Northwestern University, told the BBC News website: "We didn't have people interact with or make decisions about other people, so that sort of experiment is needed to know the full effects of the methods we used.

"But we suggest that modifying unconscious social bias is likely to influence the extent to which decisions are influenced by racist or sexist attitudes."

 

He added that an ethical discussion is needed before the technique is used. 

 

He continued: "More importantly, perhaps, is the question of whether people in positions of authority in society, such as judges and police officers, and perhaps people who make hiring decisions, should have their unconscious bias evaluated and perhaps trained to some standard."