Perspective-taking: Decreasing stereotype expression, stereotype accessibility, and in-group favoritism

Using 3 experiments, the authors explored the role of perspective-taking in debiasing social thought. In the 1st 2 experiments, perspective-taking was contrasted with stereotype suppression as a possible strategy for achievin g stereotype control. In Experiment 1, perspective-taking decreased stereot ypic biases on both a conscious and a nonconscious task In Experiment 2. pe rspective-taking led to both decreased stereotyping and increased overlap b etween representations of the self and representations of the elderly, sugg esting activation and application of the self-concept in judgments of the e lderly. In Experiment 3, perspective-faking reduced evidence of in-group bi as in the minimal group paradigm by increasing evaluations of the out-group . The role of self-other overlap in producing prosocial outcomes and the se paration of the conscious, explicit effects from the nonconscious, implicit effects of perspective-taking are discussed.