Basic and Translational Research to Combat Stereotypes and Unintentional Biases Automatically activated stereotypes give rise to unintentional (implicit) biases in people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, even when such biases are strongly opposed by social norms, personal convictions, and objective evidence. Stereotypes and unintentional biases have been implicated as an important social justice issue with consequences for the mental and physical health of members of stigmatized groups. Stereotypes and uninten- tional biases also create barriers to scientific progress by contributing to the underrepresentation of racial minori- ties and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. In response to these social, health, and scientific issues, the NIH and nearly every other scientific organization has called for effective interventions to address unintentional biases (NIH, 2015). Many of the responses to these calls, however, have taken the form of interventions that are not grounded in scientific theory and evidence — absent a deeper understanding of human cognition rooted in basic cognitive science, these interventions often seek to address the symptoms of bias with- out treating their underlying causes. Although well-intentioned, these efforts at best do not work and at worst make bias problems worse (Paluck & Green, 2009). The sole intervention that has been empirically demonstrated to produce lasting, meaningful bias reductions is the prejudice habit-breaking intervention, which my colleagues and I have developed and tested experimentally in recent years. The initial success of the prejudice habit-break- ing intervention arises from its strong empirical evidence base. Its scientific model of cognitive and behavioral change builds upon decades of basic research into the mechanisms of stereotyping and unintentional bias. This work powerfully demonstrates why both basic and translational research are needed to effectively combat bias. Stereotyping and biases are supported by the same learning mechanisms that contribute to learning and cognition about non-social targets. Much of my past and future research draws on basic cognitive neuroscience to develop and test novel hypotheses about how specific learning mechanisms (e.g., Hebbian and reward/aver- sion learning) contribute to the persistence of stereotypes and unintentional biases. With a better understanding of the basic processes that make stereotypes resistant to change, I can then enhance my translational work with the prejudice habit-breaking intervention to better address those sources of resistance. In this way, my basic and translational work is synergistic, advancing knowledge around mechanisms of stereotype persistence and im- proving and testing interventions to reduce stereotyping and unintentional biases. As a MIRA investigator, I would 1) expand our knowledge of how basic learning mechanisms perpetuate stereotypes and unintentional biases, and 2) translate basic work to enhance the effectiveness of the prejudice habit-breaking intervention, and 3) conduct expanded experimental field-testing of the intervention in collabora- tion with my campus's administration, using the University of Wisconsin - Madison as a living laboratory.

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE STATEMENT In the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, NIH identifies the lack of scientific workforce diversity as a critical barrier to scientif- ic progress — a workforce containing diverse perspectives is better equipped to produce transformative, transla- tional, and innovative scientific advances, which in turn fuel economic and technological progress. Implicit or unin- tentional biases are a key obstacle to scientific workforce diversity, because they influence both those in the scientif- ic workforce making decisions about who to fund, mentor, admit, or hire, and potential scientists-to-be, who need to determine whether they “fit” in the scientific workforce. Further, abundant evidence indicates that the persistence of stereotypes and unintentional bias has myriad negative consequences for the mental and physical health of mem- bers of stigmatized groups. To address these social, scientific, and health issues requires 1) a better basic science understanding of what causes biases to persist, and 2) translational work to develop and empirically assess effec- tive evidence-based interventions to reduce unintentional biases and their sequelae.