Institute of Medical Education Research Rotterdam, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Med Educ. 2022 Mar;56(3):331-338. doi: 10.1111/medu.14712. Epub 2021 Dec 26.
Implicit biases of health professionals could cause biased judgements. Many anti-bias interventions seem to be ineffective, and some even counterproductive. People tend to be compliant to standards describing what the majority of people finds or does, and this could cause people to think in a stereotype-consistent manner. This study examines whether descriptive social norms such as 'the majority of people have stereotypes' (majority message), as often stated in interventions, actually increase people's stereotypes. To examine the effect of descriptive social norms (Hypothesis 1) and the effect of individual perceptions and preferences (Hypothesis 2a and 2b) on stereotypical expressions towards medical students.
First, we determined which ethic stereotypes regarding medical students prevail in Dutch medical education (N = 52). Next, two similar randomised controlled trials, both with teachers and students, were carried out (N = 158 and N = 123, respectively), one with an East Asian student picture (ethnic minority) and one with a native Dutch student picture (ethnic majority). Participants were randomly assigned to either a majority-message, minority-message or no-message condition, and rated the presented minority or majority picture on specific stereotypical features. Subsequently, participants described a typical day of that same student's life. These descriptions were rated for stereotypicality by two independent raters, who were blind for condition and stimulus. Inclusive work environment (IWC) and social dominance orientation (SDO) of participants were measured as indicators of individual perceptions and preferences.
Stereotypes were expressed towards both picture stimuli, yet message condition did not affect stereotypical expressions. SDO positively related to stereotypical expressions towards the East Asian student, whereas IWC positively related to stereotypical expressions towards the native Dutch student.
Interventions do not unintentionally increase stereotypes by communicating what the majority of people thinks or does. Individual perceptions and preferences are predictive of stereotypes, whereas descriptive social norms are not.
卫生专业人员的隐性偏见可能导致有偏见的判断。许多反偏见干预措施似乎无效，甚至有些反而适得其反。人们往往会遵守描述大多数人发现或做的事情的标准，这可能导致人们以刻板印象一致的方式思考。本研究考察了描述性社会规范（如“大多数人都有刻板印象”的多数信息）是否会像干预措施中经常提到的那样，实际上增加人们的刻板印象。为了检验描述性社会规范（假设 1）以及个体感知和偏好（假设 2a 和 2b）对医学生刻板印象表达的影响。
首先，我们确定了在荷兰医学教育中普遍存在的关于医学生的伦理刻板印象（N=52）。接下来，进行了两项类似的随机对照试验，参与者分别为教师和学生（N=158 和 N=123），一项使用东亚学生图片（少数民族），一项使用荷兰本地学生图片（多数民族）。参与者被随机分配到多数信息、少数信息或无信息条件，并对呈现的少数或多数图片的特定刻板特征进行评分。随后，参与者描述了同一位学生的典型一天。这些描述由两位独立的评分者进行评分，评分者对条件和刺激因素均不知情。参与者的包容性工作环境（IWC）和社会支配倾向（SDO）作为个体感知和偏好的指标进行测量。
对两个图片刺激都表达了刻板印象，但信息条件并未影响刻板印象的表达。SDO 与对东亚学生的刻板印象呈正相关，而 IWC 与对荷兰本地学生的刻板印象呈正相关。
干预措施通过传达大多数人所想或所做的事情并不会无意中增加刻板印象。个体感知和偏好是刻板印象的预测因素，而描述性社会规范则不是。
