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[Perspective] How to overcome prejudice

ScienceNOW - Fetched: April 7th, 2016, 4:00pm UTC

What do social scientists know about reducing prejudice in the world? In short, very little. Of the hundreds of studies on prejudice reduction conducted in recent decades, only ~11% test the causal effect of interventions conducted in the real world (1). Far fewer address prejudice among adults or measure the long-term effects of those interventions (see the figure). The results reported by Broockman and Kalla on page 220 of this issue are therefore particularly important (2). The authors show that a 10-min conversation with voters in South Florida reduced prejudice against transgender people and increased support for transgender rights for at least 3 months. Author: Elizabeth Levy Paluck

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