How does immersive reality affect implicit racial bias?

In the new experiment, 92 white female participants stood in a virtual street embodied either in a white or black body, with crowds of virtual people walking by. For those who experienced the neutral or positive crowd the same results as previously found were replicated and the implicit racial bias of those in the black body decreased. However, in a negative social situation, those with the Black body showed an increase in their implicit bias rather than a decrease as in earlier studies. Recerca Implicit racial bias refers to the automatic non-conscious behaviours, even if one's explicit attitude is not biased at all. Several studies have shown these prejudices are reduced in white people after being in the body of a black person in virtual reality. Now, a study carried out by researchers of the Event Lab research group and the Institute of Neuroscience ( UBNeuro ) of the UB shows that when the virtual scenario is affectively negative, implicit bias increases, and even the illusion of owning a virtual body is lessened. Researchers argue that negative affect prevents the formation of new positive associations with black, and distress leads to disownership of the virtual body.