Rather than focus on persuasion techniques to alter attitudes, promising strategies that employ psychology’s rigorous empiricism aim to reduce modern and institutional racism by changing discriminatory behaviors:
Recategorization of schema (mental shortcuts our brains take because we constantly encounter so much information in the world) into larger categories to reduce stereotypes and prejudices. For example, expanding the category of “Muslim” into a larger umbrella of “American.”
Controlled processing to train ourselves to suppress and go beyond its ingrained societal stereotypes and mindfully learn tolerance. Some scientists argue that we all learn our cultural stereotypes, but some develop the ability for controlled processing. An example of such training is to examine an office environment and consider how a handicapped person might work in that space.
Improve intergroup contact in order to undermine prejudice attitudes. History has illustrated this is only productive under certain circumstances: the groups interact on equal status; people have one-on-one contact with members of the different groups; they cooperate and not compete; and they interact in a helpful social climate where authority or the norm encourages contact. Past examples of intergroup exchange, such as initial desegregation in public schools and in the United States Army, lacked such conditions; however, potential for heterogeneous groups to work together for a common goal in harmonious environment exists today for sports teams, coworkers, and classmates.
