Toward a more humane genetics education: Learning about the social and quantitative complexities of human genetic variation research could reduce racial bias in adolescent and adult populations
Toward a more humane genetics education: Learning about the social and quantitative complexities of human genetic variation research could reduce racial bias in adolescent and adult populations
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DOI：
10.1002/sce.21506
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发表时间：
2019-05-01
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Salazar, Brae
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Donovan, Brian M.;Semmens, Rob;Salazar, Brae
当人们接触到导致他们高估种族群体之间遗传差异的实际数量的信息时，它可以增强他们的种族偏见。然而，显然没有研究探讨反过来是否可能。教授青少年关于美国人口普查种族内部和之间遗传变异的科学准确信息是否会减少他们的种族偏见？我们将8年级和9年级的学生（n=166）随机分配到不同的教室，学习整整一周的主题（a）人类遗传变异或（B）气候变化。在交叉随机试验与聚类，我们表明，当学生了解种族群体内和种族群体之间的遗传变异，它显着改变了他们对人类遗传变异的看法，从而导致他们的分数显着下降的工具评估认知形式的偏见。然后，我们在两个基于计算机的随机对照试验中复制了这些发现，一个是成年人（n=176），另一个是生物学学生（n=721，9（th）-12（th）年级学生）。这些结果表明，在遗传学领域有关人类变异的教学对青少年的社会认知具有潜在的强大影响。反过来，我们认为，了解人类遗传变异研究的社会和定量的复杂性，可以让学生成为一个社会中的知情参与者，人类遗传学被援引为社会政治辩论的理由。
When people are exposed to information that leads them to overestimate the actual amount of genetic difference between racial groups, it can augment their racial biases. However, there is apparently no research that explores if the reverse is possible. Does teaching adolescents scientifically accurate information about genetic variation within and between US census races reduce their racial biases? We randomized 8(th) and 9(th) grade students (n=166) into separate classrooms to learn for an entire week either about the topics of (a) human genetic variation or (b) climate variation. In a cross-over randomized trial with clustering, we demonstrate that when students learn about genetic variation within and between racial groups it significantly changes their perceptions of human genetic variation, thereby causing a significant decrease in their scores on instruments assessing cognitive forms of prejudice. We then replicate these findings in two computer-based randomized controlled trials, one with adults (n=176) and another with biology students (n=721, 9(th)-12(th) graders). These results indicate that teaching about human variation in the domain of genetics has potentially powerful effects on social cognition during adolescence. In turn, we argue that learning about the social and quantitative complexities of human genetic variation research could prepare students to become informed participants in a society where human genetics is invoked as a rationale in sociopolitical debates.