Two experiments showed that framing an athletic task as diagnostic of negative racial stereotypes about Black or White athletes can impede their performance in sports. In Experiment 1, Black participants performed significantly worse than did control participants when performance on a golf task was framed as diagnostic of "sports intelligence." In comparison, White participants performed worse than did control participants when the golf task was framed as diagnostic of "natural athletic ability." Experiment 2 observed the effect of stereotype threat on the athletic performance of White participants for whom performance in sports represented a significant measure of their self-worth. The implications of the findings for the theory of stereotype threat (C. M. Steele, 1997) and for participation in sports are discussed.

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Feelings of hypocrisy were induced in college students to increase condom use. Hypocrisy was created by making subjects mindful of their past failure to use condoms and then having them persuade others about the importance of condoms for AIDS prevention. The induction of hypocrisy decreased denial and led to greater intent to improve condom use relative to the control conditions. The implications of these findings for AIDS prevention are discussed.

This experiment applied a new twist on cognitive dissonance theory to the problem of AIDS prevention among sexually active young adults. Dissonance was created after a proattitudinal advocacy by inducing hypocrisy-having subjects publicly advocate the importance of safe sex and then systematically making the subjects mindful of their own past failures to use condoms. It was predicted that the induction of hypocrisy would motivate subjects to reduce dissonance by purchasing condoms at the completion of the experiment. The results showed that more subjects in the hypocrisy condition bought condoms and also bought more condoms, on average, than subjects in the control conditions. The implications of the hypocrisy procedure for AIDS prevention programs and for current views of dissonance theory are discussed.

Recent evidence suggests that one possible cause of disparities in health outcomes for stigmatized groups is the implicit biases held by health care providers. In response, several health care organizations have called for, and developed, new training in implicit bias for their providers. This review examines current evidence on the role that provider implicit bias may play in health disparities, and whether training in implicit bias can effectively reduce the biases that providers exhibit. Directions for future research on the presence and consequences of provider implicit bias, and best practices for training to reduce such bias, will be discussed.

Two experiments investigated how the dissonance that follows a hypocritical behavior is reduced when 2 alternatives are available; a direct strategy (changing behavior to make it less hypocritical) or an indirect strategy (the affirmation of an unrelated positive aspect of the self). In Experiment 1, after dissonance was aroused by hypocrisy, significantly more participants chose to reduce dissonance directly, despite the clear availability of a self-affirmation strategy. In Experiment 2, participants again chose direct resolution of their hypocritical discrepancy, even when the opportunity to affirm the self held more importance for their global self-worth. The discussion focuses on the mechanisms that influence how people select among readily available strategies for dissonance reduction.

Medical Education 2011: 45: 768–776 Context  Non‐conscious stereotyping and prejudice contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Contemporary training in cultural competence is insufficient to reduce these problems because even educated, culturally sensitive, egalitarian individuals can activate and use their biases without being aware they are doing so. However, these problems can be reduced by workshops and learning modules that focus on the psychology of non‐conscious bias. The Psychology of NON‐Conscious Bias  Research in social psychology shows that over time stereotypes and prejudices become invisible to those who rely on them. Automatic categorisation of an individual as a member of a social group can unconsciously trigger the thoughts (stereotypes) and feelings (prejudices) associated with that group, even if these reactions are explicitly denied and rejected. This implies that, when activated, implicit negative attitudes and stereotypes shape how medical professionals evaluate and interact with minority group patients. This creates differential diagnosis and treatment, makes minority group patients uncomfortable and discourages them from seeking or complying with treatment. Pitfalls in Cultural Competence Training  Cultural competence training involves teaching students to use race and ethnicity to diagnose and treat minority group patients, but to avoid stereotyping them by over‐generalising cultural knowledge to individuals. However, the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards do not specify how these goals should be accomplished and psychological research shows that common approaches like stereotype suppression are ineffective for reducing non‐conscious bias. To effectively address bias in health care, training in cultural competence should incorporate research on the psychology of non‐conscious stereotyping and prejudice. Training in Implicit Bias Enhances Cultural Competence  Workshops or other learning modules that help medical professionals learn about non‐conscious processes can provide them with skills that reduce bias when they interact with minority group patients. Examples of such skills in action include automatically activating egalitarian goals, looking for common identities and counter‐stereotypical information, and taking the perspective of the minority group patient.

When people fail to practice what they preach, their act of hypocrisy can induce cognitive dissonance and the motivation to change their behavior. The current paper examines the evidence for this assumption by reviewing and analyzing the research that has used the hypocrisy procedure to influence the performance of pro‐social behaviors related to health, the environment, and interpersonal relations. The first section looks at the evidence for the claim that hypocrisy motivates behavior change as opposed to other forms of dissonance reduction such as attitude change. We then review studies that suggest that the induction of hypocrisy exerts its greatest effect on behavior change when people publicly advocate the importance of the target course of action and are then privately reminded of their own recent personal failures to perform the target behavior. A third section discusses the limitations to the current body of work and important directions for future research. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of how the hypocrisy procedure relates to other contemporary models of behavior change.