Can resource depletion explain the differing effects of perspective-taking on racial bias?

Abstract

Perspective-taking has become a popular technique for mitigating racially biased behavior, yet some studies, like Vorauer, Martens, and Sasaki (2009) have found it can also backfire. One possible explanation for the results seen in Vorauer et al. (2009) is differing cognitive demands when participants are primed with a perspective-taking mindset from a previous task (indirect perspective-taking; IPT), or if they’re actively manipulated to do so in the interaction being measured (direct perspective-taking; DPT). This study recruited White American and Canadian adults using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) for a study ostensibly involving a video chat with another participant. Participants were randomly assigned a depletion condition (depletion or non-depletion) and a mindset manipulation (objective, DPT, or IPT). Intimacy-building behavior was measured in personal questionnaires participants filled out to ostensibly exchange with their video chat partner. It was hypothesized that depletion would explain differences in IPT and DPT interventions, however intimacy-building behavior did not vary significantly, and was uniformly low.