The last decade has seen a rush to address the causes and consequences of bias in applied contexts across the world. When and why might these initiatives promote attitudes and behavior that align with egalitarian goals? A common assumption is that increasing awareness of bias can motivate control over prejudiced responding. However, learning that one's actions are biased is threatening, and often motivates a range of self-protective responses to buffer that threat. In the current research, we tested a strategy for reducing such defensive responding and increasing the kind of awareness central to contemporary theories of prejudice regulation and egalitarian behavior. Four experiments (N > 2500) and a mini meta-analysis demonstrate that interventions that (a) decrease perceived moral blameworthiness for having bias and (b) increase the perceived ability to control bias, can reduce defensive responding and increase awareness both in the short-term and approximately 6 months later. Interventions that minimize threat and facilitate efficacy can motivate increased bias awareness and commitment to egalitarian values.

在过去的十年里，人们急于解决世界各地应用环境中偏见的原因和后果。这些举措何时以及为何会促进与平等目标一致的态度和行为？一个常见的假设是，提高对偏见的认识可以激发对偏见反应的控制。然而，知道一个人的行为有偏见是有威胁的，并且通常会激发一系列自我保护反应来缓冲这种威胁。在当前的研究中，我们测试了一种减少这种防御性反应并提高当代偏见调节和平等行为理论核心意识的策略。四次实验（N > 2500) 和一项小型荟萃分析表明，干预措施 (a) 减少对偏见的感知道德可指责性和 (b) 提高​​控制偏见的感知能力，可以减少防御性反应并在短期和大约6 个月后。最大限度地减少威胁和促进效率的干预措施可以激发人们对偏见的认识和对平等价值观的承诺。