Vive la différence!

This post is a bit off the main topics of this blog, but I found an interesting study that I would like to share [1]. Using virtual reality tools, the authors of this study performed an experiment placing white people with a body of black people for about 12 minutes. They compared the results of a test for racial bias performed few days before the experiment with the results of the same test performed after the experiment, and found a clear reduction in the scores! I guess virtual reality could be a tool to increase empathy, and therefore respect to the difference. So perhaps racism is curable!

Figure:  Team of happy people working together (www.dreamstime.com; top left), variability of the Cuban Polymita (top right) and variability of the Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis; bottom; source).

References
[1] Peck TC, Seinfeld S, Aglioti SM, Slater M. 2013. Putting yourself in the skin of a black avatar reduces implicit racial bias, Consciousness and Cognition, 22, 779-787. [doi].  More virtual experiments at: http://presence-thoughts.blogspot.com.es