Study: Prejudice can be unlearned by hypnotic suggestion during sleep

“Even though we might not even agree with the stereotype, that knowledge of the stereotype is something we’ve encoded in our brain,” explained Ken Paller, one of the authors of the study, ABC News reported. “So we linked up science words with faces of women and sort of reversed the stereotype of women not being associated with science.”

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The researchers played distinctive low-volume sounds during these imaging association sessions. Later in the day, volunteers were asked to nap for 90 minutes while the same tone played softly in the background with the hopes of bringing back memories of the exercise. The individuals’ prejudices were measured using a series of publicly available tests.

Results showed that this technique was able to produce changes in people’s subconscious prejudices and reduce the scores of sexual and racial bias. However, these changes lasted no longer than a week.

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