A comparison of clinicians’ racial biases in the United States and France

This research summary can be incorporated into a lecture or shared with students as a reading to demonstrate how psychological science explores the diversity of human experience. This resource can also be used to encourage students to identify the major components of a research study (i.e., the hypothesis or study question, sample, method, and findings). Students can be asked to identify potential limitations of the study and encouraged to discuss the implications for our understanding of human behavior. Keywords highlight how concepts within and across pillars are incorporated into a single research study.

Does a patient’s race influence their medical care? What role might cognition or cognitive biases play? This research group hypothesized that in the United States, Black patients would be perceived as less personally responsible, less likely to adhere to medical advice, and less likely to improve than White patients. To test this hypothesis, researchers recruited clinicians—doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and medical students—from both the United States and France to read doctor’s notes about a hypothetical male patient who had been diagnosed with hypertension. The notes were identical with the exception of race, which was noted as either Black or White. The clinicians then gave their perceptions of the patients’ expected improvement and adherence to medical recommendations by answering questions, such as “How likely is it that the patient will take the recommended prescriptions?” and “How likely is it that the patient’s condition will improve?” Clinicians in France showed no differences in their responses as a function of the patient’s race. But American clinicians rated the hypothetical White patient as significantly more responsible for their health and more likely to adhere to their treatment than the hypothetical Black patient. They also saw the White patient as significantly more likely to improve. This study demonstrates how patient race influences medical practitioner’s perceptions of their prognosis and care provided, with potentially life-threatening consequences.

Khosla, N. N., Perry, S. P., Moss-Racusin, C. A., Burke, S. E., & Dovidio, J. F. (2018). A comparison of clinicians’ racial biases in the United States and France. Social Science & Medicine, 206, 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.03.044opens in new window

Race, Cognition, Perception, Bias, Health and Wellness

The development of resources to broaden diversity and representation in the teaching of high school psychology resources is an APA Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools initiative supported by funding from the American Psychological Foundation David and Carol Myers Fund. This resource was developed by Eric Castro, Shawn C.T. Jones, PhD, Allyn Olsen, and Catherine Sanderson, PhD.