Study: 10-minute conversation may help reduce prejudice

Could prejudice be stopped by a quick chat? A new study looked at whether a 10-minute, face-to-face conversation can actually change someone’s mind and make them less prejudiced.

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The study, published today in the journal Science, had 56 canvassers visit 501 voters in the Miami area to discuss issues facing transgender people after an ordinance was passed to protect transgender people from discrimination. Those canvassing were from the Los Angeles LGBT Center and SAVE, a South Florida LGBT organization, and for the study were sent to see if they could find and counteract any backlash to the ordinance.

To effectively reach residents, the canvassers went through training developed by the Los Angeles LGBT Center that uses techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy to engage with people.

A similar study published in 2014 that received much public attention was retracted in May 2015 due to problems with the study’s data first pointed out by the authors of this new study. The public attention and the subsequent retraction prompted much controversy at the time.

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