We tend to judge favorably a group to which we feel a sense of belonging. The behavior of “foreign” groups, on the other hand, seems more suspicious to us. Racist attitudes are rooted in this phenomenon. Now, however, there is a simple way to correct prejudice against strangers. All you have to do is ask yourself one question, and answer it honestly: What is this person’s deepest inner self?
To do this, a team of researchers led by Julian de Freitas invited several hundred white subjects at a time. First, they presented them with the story of a man who was first a good father and then a bad father in one variation, and who went from being a bad father to being a good father in another. Then the researchers asked the subjects which part of his self caused each behavior.
It did not matter whether the father had an “Arab” or a “white” name, and whether he had a good or bad history. Most subjects said that his good sides reflected the true core of his personality. Moreover, when asked about their deepest inner self, they subsequently judged Arab immigrants no worse than white fellow citizens; among other things, they no longer perceived them as more threatening. When first asked about their attitudes, the subjects rated whites more positively than immigrants from Arab countries.
Surprisingly, it was also found that after being asked about the true core of a person, not only negative prejudices toward strangers disappeared. The most positive attitude toward one’s own group also decreased. That is, those who had previously reflected on the true self evaluated members of both the stranger and their own group in a more nuanced way. People remembered that in-group members do not always do good things.