Psychol Rec
DOI 10.1007/s40732-016-0185-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Changing Racial Bias by Transfer of Functions
in Equivalence Classes
Táhcita M. Mizael 1 & João H. de Almeida 1 & Carolina C. Silveira 1 & Julio C. de Rose 1
# Association for Behavior Analysis International 2016
Abstract Several studies used the stimulus equivalence
paradigm to investigate attitudes toward socially relevant
stimuli. In one of these studies, de Carvalho and de Rose
(The Psychological Record 64: 527–536, 2014) used
matching-to-sample (MTS) training to establish equiva-
lence relations between a positive symbol and faces of
individuals of African descent (toward which children
showed negative bias prior to the research). Only one of
four children showed the intended classes. The present
study manipulated training parameters to increase the yield
of equivalence classes comprising relations contrary to
children’s previous racial bias. Thirteen children learned
matching tasks that would potentially establish equivalence
relations between Black faces and positive symbols, con-
trary to their preexperimental bias. All 13 children showed
equivalence class formation, and nine of them maintained
relations between Black faces and positive symbols in a
different and more stringent test. Children’s evaluations of the
faces with the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) showed a
Táhcita Mizael and Carolina Silveira were supported by Graduate
fellowships from the Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES). João de
Almeida was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the São Paulo
Research Foundation (Grant # 2014/01874-7). Julio de Rose was supported
by a Research Productivity Grant from the National Research Council
(CNPq). This manuscript is based on the master’s thesis presented by the
first author to the Graduate Program in Psychology at Universidade Federal
de São Carlos. This research was part of the scientific program of Instituto
Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognição e
Ensino (INCT-ECCE), supported by CNPq (Grant 573972/2008-7) and
FAPESP (Grant 2008/57705-8).
* Julio C. de Rose
juliocderose@yahoo.com.br
1
Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos,
Caixa Postal 676, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
pronounced negative bias toward Black faces before training.
After class formation, however, the difference between
evaluations of Black and White faces was no longer sta-
tistically significant. These results showed that procedures
based on equivalence and transfer of functions may con-
tribute to educational programs designed to decrease racial
biases, a significant challenge for our increasingly multi-
cultural and multiracial societies.
Keywords Stimulus equivalence . Transfer of functions .
Conflicting relations . Stimulus equivalence and attitudes .
Prejudice
Stimulus equivalence has proven to be a powerful procedure
to change behavioral functions of stimuli. Stimuli are said to
be equivalent, and comprise a class of equivalent stimuli,
when arbitrary relations between them are symmetrical, tran-
sitive, and reflexive (Sidman, 1986, 1994; Sidman & Tailby,
1982). Human participants, particularly verbally able partici-
pants, readily form equivalence classes with matching-to-
sample (MTS) training (e.g., Carr, Wilkinson, Blackman, &
McIlvane, 2000; Devany, Hayes, & Nelson, 1986; Sidman &
Tailby, 1982). When equivalent stimulus classes are formed, a
function imparted to one class- member by direct training is
often exhibited by the other class members without any addi-
tional training. This transfer of functions has been document-
ed in several studies (e.g., Amd, Barnes-Holmes, & Ivanoff,
2013; de Rose, McIlvane, Dube, Galpin, & Stoddard, 1988;
Dougher, Augustson, Markham, Greenway, & Wulfert, 1994;
Dymond & Barnes, 1994; Hayes, Kohlenberg, & Hayes,
1991; Wulfert & Hayes, 1988).
Research on stimulus equivalence typically uses stimuli,
such as arbitrary shapes or nonsense syllables or pseudowords,
which are presumably meaningless. Another way to demonstrate

transfer of functions between equivalent stimuli, however, is to
establish stimulus classes comprising arbitrary stimuli together
with a meaningful one. For instance, Barnes-Holmes, Keane,
Barnes-Holmes, and Smeets (2000) trained college students
to match the printed word HOLIDAYS (labeled A1) to a
geometric shape (B1) and the printed word CANCER (A2)
to another geometric shape (B2). Then the shapes B1 and
B2 were matched, respectively, to two arbitrary pictures
(labeled C1 and C2). Appropriate tests confirmed that
the arbitrary picture C1 became equivalent to the geo-
metrical shape B1 and to the word HOLIDAYS, where-
as the arbitrary picture C2 became equivalent to the geometrical
shape B2 and to the word CANCER. In tests for transfer, the
pictures C1 and C2 served as labels for two containers with
identical cola drinks. Participants were asked to taste the drinks
in both containers and report which one they preferred. Most
participants reported to prefer the drink labeled with C1, which
was equivalent to the word HOLIDAYS (see also Arntzen,
Fagerstrom, & Foxall, 2016; Smeets & Barnes-Holmes, 2003).
Bortoloti and de Rose (2009) also demonstrated transfer of
functions from meaningful to abstract stimuli. Meaningful
stimuli were pictures of facial emotional expressions
portrayed by adult humans. Training established three equiv-
alent stimulus classes. Each class contained abstract pictures
and one emotional expression of happiness, neutrality, and
anger, respectively. Transfer of function was measured with
a semantic differential, in which participants rated the abstract
stimuli on a series of Likert scales anchored by opposite ad-
jectives. Stimuli equivalent to the happy faces produced pos-
itive evaluations whereas stimuli equivalent to the angry faces
produced negative evaluations, and stimuli equivalent to the
neutral faces produced evaluations approaching neutrality.
These studies showed that a stimulus initially evaluated as
approximately neutral can acquire either a positive or a nega-
tive valence when it becomes equivalent to a stimulus that
already had a positive or negative valence. A recent study by
de Carvalho and de Rose (2014) used a similar procedure as a
model to investigate racial attitudes in children. Participants
were four children that showed a negative bias toward faces of
Black1 individuals in preexperimental tests. They were then
trained to match positive and negative symbols (A1 and A2),
respectively, to two geometric shapes (B1 and B2); these geo-
metric shapes were then matched to Black faces (C1) and an
arbitrary picture (C2), respectively. Emergence of AC and CA
relations would document the formation of equivalence clas-
ses, so that a positive symbol would be equivalent to Black
faces and a negative symbol to an arbitrary picture. Only one
1
The terms negro (Black) and branco (White) are generally used in
Brazil to refer to races, both by the individuals themselves and by official
agencies, with no opprobrium. Because the research was done in Brazil,
we will use the closest translation of the terms used in the country
throughout this paper.
Psychol Rec
of four children exhibited the emergent relation between
Black faces and positive symbols.
The failure of most participants to respond according to
equivalence in the de Carvalho and de Rose (2014) study
replicates results of several studies investigating equivalence
relations that contradict the preexperimental history of the
participants. These studies used a simple design that we will
refer to as the Conflicting Relations Paradigm. The first study
to use this paradigm was conducted in Northern Ireland, by
Watt, Keenan, Barnes, and Cairns (1991). Watt et al. trained
university students to match Catholic names (A) to nonsense
syllables (B), and the nonsense syllables to Protestant symbols
(C). Therefore, training could lead to the emergence of AC
and CA relations between Catholic names and Protestant sym-
bols, which would contradict preexperimental relations in a
nation with a history of religious conflict. Watt et al. found that
English participants showed the intended equivalence rela-
tions, whereas few Northern Irish participants did so, suggest-
ing substantial interference from preexperimental relations.
Subsequent replications of this paradigm were conducted with
a variety of conflicting preexperimental and potentially emer-
gent relations, consistently suggesting that preexperimental
relations interfered with equivalence class formation (Dixon,
Rehfeldt, Zlomke, & Robinson, 2006; Haydu, Camargo, &
Bayer, 2015; Leslie et al., 1993; Moxon, Keenan, & Hine,
1993).
Most of these studies used a similar training design:
Relation AB was trained first, followed by BC training.
Then, a block of trials mixed AB and BC trials, with feedback
only in 50 % of the trials. This was followed by AC and CA
tests for transitivity and equivalence (e.g., de Carvalho & de
Rose, 2014; Haydu et al., 2015; Leslie et al., 1993; Moxon et
al., 1993; Watt et al., 1991). Several features of this design
may be less than optimal to yield equivalence classes:
insufficient review of the baseline, starting tests with the
most complex relations (transitivity and equivalence; see
Adams, Fields, & Verhave, 1993), and lack of symmetry
tests. The present study was, therefore, a replication of de
Carvalho and de Rose (2014) with procedural changes
designed to increase the probability of equivalence class
formation: a simple-to-complex protocol (cf. Adams et al.,
1993) with (a) symmetry tests after training of each baseline
relation and (b) mixing AB and BC trials with feedback in
100 % of the trials, followed by a baseline revision with 50 %
feedback.
Furthermore, there are indications that training with de-
layed matching-to-sample (DMTS) can increase probability
of class formation and the magnitude of transfer of function,
compared to simultaneous matching (SMTS; Arntzen, 2006;
Bortoloti & de Rose, 2009). Therefore, this study compared a
group of children trained with DMTS with another trained
with SMTS. Additionally, the study evaluated whether the
experimenter’s race could influence the results, since social
Psychol Rec

influence can be seen as a form of stimulus control (Weatherly,
Miller, & McDonald, 1999).
The major purpose of the study, therefore, was to investigate
whether an optimization of training parameters would increase
the probability of equivalence relations between Black faces
and a positive symbol, overriding the preexperimental relations
between Black faces and negative attributes.
Method
Participants
Thirteen children, aged between 8 and 10 years, who showed
negative bias toward faces of Black individuals in a screening
pretest (see BProcedure^) took part in the experiment. They
were all students at an elementary public school in the state of
São Paulo, Brazil. Table 1 shows participants’ demographic
data.
Setting and Equipment
Data collection was conducted in the school’s toy library. A
Dell Inspiron 14.550 computer, with Intel Core i3 processor,
and MTS III software (Wallace, 2003) presented stimuli and
recorded responses. Sessions were conducted with one partic-
ipant at a time and an experimenter remained in the room.
Stimuli
Stimuli A1 and A2 were drawings of a hand making a thumbs-
up and a thumbs-down symbol, respectively (also used by de
Carvalho & de Rose, 2014). B1, B2, and C2 were abstract
pictures. C1 and C3 comprised four pictures of faces of
Black individuals (C1) and four pictures of faces of White
individuals (C3). Each C1 or C3 presentation displayed only
one of the faces, chosen randomly from the set of four.
Therefore, C1 and C3 were not individual stimuli (to avoid
control by idiosyncratic features of any particular face) but
rather common features of two four-stimulus classes, com-
prised by, respectively, Black faces and White faces. The
pictures of the faces were obtained at http://faceresearch.org/.
The selected pictures portrayed faces of fairly average
individuals, with an apparent age between 20 and 30 years.
These pictures were chosen because they show only the
face on a blank background, with no apparent emotional
expression. The abstract pictures were obtained from the
stimulus gallery of MTS software v.11.1.3 (Dube & Hiris,
1997).
Assessment Instruments
Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) This instrument measures
stimuli or events on three domains: pleasure, arousal, and
dominance (Bradley & Lang, 1994). We used only the domain
of pleasure in this research. Figure 1 illustrates this instrument,
in the dimension used. Participants were asked to rate each
stimulus with five manikins side by side, varying from a smil-
ing one to an unhappy and frowning one. Participants were
initially asked what feelings each manikin was displaying, and
corrected if wrong (which almost never occurred). They were
then instructed to choose whichever circle (below each man-
ikin and between them) best represented what they felt when
they looked at the picture displayed on top (see Fig. 1). The
experimenter told them that there were no correct or wrong
answers, because people have different tastes and preferences
for clothes, TV characters, and so forth.

Table 1 Sex, age and race of the participants

Participant Sex Age (in years) Race

P1 Female 9 White
P2 Male 10 Black
P3 Male 9 White
P4 Female 8 White
P5 Male 8 Black
P6 Female 9 White
P7 Male 10 Black
P8 Female 9 Black
P9 Male 9 Black
P10 Female 9 White
P11 Female 8 Black
P12 Female 9 White
P13 Female 9 White
Fig. 1 Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM)

Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) The
IRAP (Barnes-Holmes et al., 2006) evaluates properties of
relations between stimuli. Participants are asked to respond
as fast as possible to pairs of stimuli, choosing a response
option referring to the relation between the stimuli: yes or no
in the present study (see Fig. 2). Correct and incorrect choices
vary in successive trial blocks, so that selections consistent
with the presumed bias of the participants are correct in some
blocks of trials and incorrect in others. It is assumed that
participants will respond faster on trials consistent with their
biases than in those that are inconsistent (Barnes-Holmes,
Murphy, & Barnes-Holmes, 2010). The IRAP has been suc-
cessfully used to identify biases (Drake et al., 2010) and racial
stereotypes (Barnes-Holmes et al., 2010). It has also been
successfully used with young children (Rabelo, Bortoloti, &
Souza, 2014).
Procedure
Screening Children rated (see BAssessment Instruments^, and
Fig. 1) all stimuli used in training and testing and five pictures
of cartoon characters, used as distractors, on the SAM. Stimuli
were presented in a randomized sequence. Participants were
instructed to mark the circle below or between the manikins
that best represented the pleasure level elicited by the target
stimulus. Participants that rated one or more of the Black faces
with scores below those attributed to the White ones were
submitted to a second test to confirm the bias. This was an
MTS test, labeled AC3, because trials displayed three com-
parison stimuli. Each trial displayed either the symbol A1 or
A2 as a sample (thumbs up or down, respectively) together
with three comparisons: a picture of a Black face (C1), an
abstract symbol (C2), and a picture of a White face (C3).
Fig. 2 Implicit Relational
Assessment Procedure (IRAP).
The three pictures in the left-
upper side were deemed as posi-
tive, whereas the three below
were deemed as negative
Psychol Rec
Participants were instructed to select the comparison which
they considered to match the sample. The test comprised 16
trials, eight with each sample, in a randomized sequence.
There were no differential consequences for any selections.
The following equation was used to determine bias:
½b ¼ ðW þÞ  ðBþÞ þ ½ðBÞ  ðW Þ, where W + corre-
sponds to the number of selections of White faces for the
thumbs up sign, B + the number of selections of Black faces
for the thumbs up sign, B  the number of selections of Black
faces for the thumbs down sign, and W  the number of
selections of White faces for the thumbs down sign. A value
of b = 0 indicated absence of bias, whereas positive values
indicated negative bias toward Black faces and negative
values indicated positive bias toward those faces. Children
who yielded values of b equal to or higher than four were
selected for the study. Table 2 summarizes the experimental
phases, showing the conditional relations trained or tested in
each phase, and the number of trials and learning criteria
(when applicable).
Pretraining A pretraining was conducted initially to familiar-
ize participants with the arbitrary MTS task. Participants were
instructed that, when a picture appeared in the center of the
screen, they had to click on it and find out which of the pic-
tures displayed below was the one that Bwent with^ the center
picture. Participants were also told that on the initial trials the
computer would present a cue indicating the correct choice,
and they needed to pay attention because cues would no lon-
ger be presented after these initial trials. On the first trial, the
computer showed only the correct comparison, along with two
blank squares. On the second trial, the computer showed two
of the comparison stimuli (along with a blank square), and on
the third trial, the three comparison stimuli appeared.
Psychol Rec

Table 2 Training and testing

sequence, containing the Phase Number of Trials Learning Criterion Conditional Relations
conditional relations, number of
trials, and learning criteria for Pretest 16 — AC
each phase Pretraining 15 14 of 15 trials X1Y1/X2Y2/X3Y3
AB1 Training 16 15 of 16 trials A1B1/A2B2
AB2 Training 16 15 of 16 trials A1B1/A2B2
BA Symmetry Test 16 15 of 16 trials B1A1/B2A2
BC1 Training 16 15 of 16 trials B1C1/B2C2
BC2 Training 16 15 of 16 trials B1C1/B2C2
CB Symmetry Test 16 15 of 16 trials C1B1/C2B2
ABBC1 Mixed Training 16 15 of 16 trials A1B1/A2B2/B1C1/B2C2
ABBC2 Mixed Training 16 15 of 16 trials A1B1/A2B2/B1C1/B2C2
Baseline Review 1 16 15 of 16 trials A1B1/A2B2/B1C1/B2C2
Baseline Review 2 16 15 of 16 trials A1B1/A2B2/B1C1/B2C2
AC Test 16 15 of 16 trials A1C1/A2C2
CA Test 16 15 of 16 trials C1A1/C2A2
Posttest 16 — A1C1/A2C2

Participants were taught conditional relation XY, with three
samples and three comparisons. These were arbitrary pictures
different from those used in the training itself.
Matching-to-sample trials A trial began with the presenta-
tion of the sample in the central window. In DMTS, a mouse
click on the sample produced the withdrawal of the sample
and, after a 2-s interval, the presentation of two or three com-
parison stimuli, depending on the experimental phase. In
SMTS, a click on the sample produced the immediate presen-
tation of the comparison stimuli and the sample remained on.
The intertrial interval was 1.5 s.
Differential consequences were presented in training
blocks and not in test blocks. Correct responses produced a
clapping sound and a display of moving stars on the screen,
and incorrect responses produced a black screen for 1.5 s.
After each correct response, the experimenter also dropped a
marble into a cup, with each marble corresponding to a point.
Children were told that points would accumulate during the
experiment, and would be exchanged for prizes at the end
of the study. Before participants entered this phase, they
were instructed that this task was similar to the previous
one (pretraining), but there would be no cues about which
choice would be correct, so they had to pay attention to
what happened when they made their choices, starting with
the first trial.
Experimental conditions Seven participants did all training
and testing with SMTS and six did them with DMTS. A
White experimenter conducted all sessions for five partici-
pants (three in the SMTS condition and two in the DMTS
condition). A Black experimenter conducted all sessions for
the remaining participants.
Training The learning criterion for both groups during train-
ing and testing was a maximum of one error per block. The
participants were required to achieve criterion in two consec-
utive blocks to advance to the following phase, except on
symmetry tests. On symmetry tests, achieving criterion in just
one block was sufficient to advance to the following phase.
After the pretraining, the AB relation2 was taught with a 16-
trial block (eight A1B1 and eight A2B2). When criterion was
met in two consecutive blocks, a symmetry test (BA) followed,
also in a 16-trial block (eight B1A1 and eight B2A2). Before
symmetry tests, children were informed that the computer
would not tell whether responses were correct or wrong.
After criterion was met, BC training was conducted (with the
same procedure as AB training), followed by CB symmetry
tests. The next training block, with 32 trials, mixed AB and
BC trials. This was followed by a baseline review block, similar
to the previous one, with the exception that differential conse-
quences were presented only in 50 % of the trials. Before this
block started, children were told that in some trials the comput-
er would not tell whether responses had been correct or wrong.
Equivalence tests Two tests were conducted. The first was a
standard transitivity and equivalence test verifying AC and
CA relations. Only C1 and C2 appeared as choices or samples
2
A simpler training could just reverse the presumed preexperimental
relations, in order to establish classes comprised by A1/B1/C1 and A2/
B2/C3 (i.e., Black faces equivalent to the positive symbol and White
faces equivalent to the negative symbol). We considered (as did de
Carvalho & de Rose, 2014) it ethically unacceptable to expose children
to a training that could establish equivalence relations between racial traits
and a negative sign. Therefore, we used the same strategy as de Carvalho
and de Rose (i.e., providing training that could establish equivalence
relations between Black faces and a positive sign, and between a negative
sign and an abstract symbol).

in this test. The test blocks had 16 AC and 16 CA trials,
comprising 32 trials in a randomized order. There were two
consecutive applications of this 32-trial block, regardless
of participants’ performance. This was followed by the
AC3 test, in which AC trials displayed three comparison
stimuli: a Black face (C1), the arbitrary symbol (C2),
and a White face (C3). This test had a 16-trial block
and was applied two times consecutively, regardless of
participants’ performance. Before the tests began, chil-
dren were informed that the computer would no longer
signal whether responses had been correct or wrong. Figure 3
shows examples of trials for standard AC/CA tests, and
for the AC3 test.
Posttests All participants rated the same stimuli with the
SAM. They were then submitted to IRAP testing. IRAP cate-
gories were Black or White faces, the target stimuli were pos-
itive and negative images,3 and the response options were
Byes^ and Bno.^ The relations White–positive and Black–neg-
ative were deemed as consistent with the previous history of
the participants, and the relations White–negative and Black–
positive were considered inconsistent. Each trial displayed
one of the two categories, one target, and the two response
options. Children were told they would be playing a game like
Simon Says, and thus the experimenter would give them a
rule, and the participants had to follow that rule as much as
possible, and respond on the computer screen as fast as pos-
sible. In the first trial block, one of the possibilities, either
consistent or inconsistent, was considered correct, and the
correct and incorrect options were reversed at each of the
following blocks. The initial blocks were training blocks,
and data were excluded from the analysis. Training ended
when participants attained a criterion of at least 70 % correct
responses in two consecutive blocks. A correct response was
either a consistent or an inconsistent response, according to
the block, with a maximum latency of 3 s. A maximum of six
training blocks could be conducted with each participant. The
number of test blocks was also six.
Results
Pretests
Twenty-two children showed lower SAM ratings for Black
faces compared to White faces. Nine of these children did
3
These images were provided by the International Affective Picture
System (IAPS; Lang, Bradley & Cuthbert, 1999). The picture selection
was based on a study (McManis, Bradley, Berg, Cuthbert & Lang, 2001)
that verified which pictures children aged between 7 and 11 evaluated as
positive, negative, and neutral according to SAM results. We used only
one image that was not used in McManis et al. study (rotten fruits), which
is, nevertheless, present in the IAPS.
Psychol Rec
not reach the value of b = 4 to confirm the bias in the AC3
test (see Screening, in the BProcedure^ section), and were not
included in the study. For the 13 other children, values of b
ranged from 4 to 16 (M = 7.62, SD = 3.91). For three partici-
pants (P5, P6, and P10), the value of b was 4. One child (P13)
reached the maximum value for b, 16.
MTS Training and Equivalence Tests
Table 3 shows training results. Eleven participants completed
the pretraining in one or two blocks. Exceptions were P13
(three blocks) and P11 (five blocks). All participants reached
criterion for AB training in two blocks and for BA symmetry
in one block, with the exception of P13, who reached symme-
try criterion after two blocks. All participants reached criterion
for BC training in three blocks or less, with the exception of
P13, who required five blocks. All attained CB symmetry
criterion in one block, with the exception of P5, who required
three blocks. All participants required two blocks to reach
criterion in mixed AB/BC trials; they also required two blocks
to attain criterion in the baseline review with feedback in 50 %
of trials (with the exception of P10, who needed four blocks
for this baseline review).
Table 4 shows results for equivalence tests. There were two
blocks of AC/CA tests. All children reached criterion on the
first block (only P6 did not attain criterion on the first block,
falling short for one response). This AC/CA test did not in-
clude White faces. When White faces were included as an
option, in the AC3 test, nine participants continued to
choose the Black face for the positive sample in at least
15 trials. Three other participants fell short of this criterion
for a few trials, and P13 showed the lowest scores of this
Black–positive relation (below 50 % for the aggregated
trials of the two blocks); this was the participant who
showed the most extreme negative bias toward Black faces
in the screening AC3 test.
SMTS versus DMTS and Black and White Experimenters
Participants performed with similar accuracy on both sym-
metry and equivalence tests after training with DMTS or
SMTS. Kruskal-Wallis Test confirmed the absence of sig-
nificant differences in equivalence class formation for
these two conditions (K = 38.167, p > .05).
Performance in the standard equivalence test (AC/CA) was
accurate for all participants, regardless of experimenter. In the
AC3 test, four participants did not attain criterion, two of them
with each experimenter. Therefore, two of the eight partici-
pants (25 %) with the Black experimenter failed to reach cri-
terion in the AC3 test. On the other hand, two of five partic-
ipants (40 %) with the White experimenter failed to attain
criterion in the AC3 test.
Psychol Rec

Fig. 3 Examples of equivalence

test trials. The upper row presents
standard AC (left) and CA (right)
trials. The lower row presents
AC3 trials

Posttests
SAM Figure 4 compares pleasure levels elicited by Black
and White faces before and after training. Before training,
White faces elicited significantly higher pleasure levels than
Black faces, according to Mann-Whitney test (U′ = 1,873.5,
p < .001). After training, average pleasure levels increased
for Black faces and decreased for White faces. Visual
comparison of the averages shows that ratings of White
faces are still above ratings of Black faces, but the differ-
ence is smaller, and not statistically significant (U′ = 1,547.0,
p > .05).
AC3 Table 5 shows values of the bias index b (see Screening, in
the BProcedure^ section). Positive values of b indicate negative
bias toward Black faces, and negative values indicate positive
bias. All participants showed b values of 4 or more (this was the
criterion to be selected for the study) before the training. After
training and equivalence class formation, b values were less
than 4 for all participants, except P13 in the second test block.
Eleven participants showed positive bias toward Black faces
(negative values of b) in at least one of the AC3 posttests.
IRAP Latencies on the IRAP were transformed into D-IRAP
scores for each of the four stimulus relations assessed. The

Table 3 Participants’
performance on training phases Participant Pretraining AB BC ABBC Mixed Training Baseline Review

P1* 1 (15) 2 (16-16) 2 (15-16) 2 (16-16) 2 (16-16)

P2 2 (13-14) 2 (16-16) 2 (16-16) 2 (16-16) 2 (16-16)
P3 1 (15) 2 (16-16) 2 (15-16) 2 (16-15) 2 (16-16)
P4* 2(13-15) 2(16-16) 3(14-16-16) 2(15-15) 2(16-16)
P5* 2(10-15) 2(15-16) 2(16-16) 2(16-16) 2(16-16)
P6 2(10-15) 2(16-16) 3(13-16-15) 2(16-16) 2(16-16)
P7* 1 (14) 2 (15-16) 3 (8-15-15) 2 (16-16) 2 (16-16)
P8* 1 (15) 2 (15-16) 3 (14-16-16) 2 (15-16) 2 (16-16)
P9 2 (4-14) 2 (15-15) 3 (12-16-15) 2 (16-15) 2 (15-15)
P10* 1 (15) 2 (15-16) 3 (13-16-16) 2 (16-16) 4 (16-13-16-16)
P11* 5(8-8-9-8-15) 2(15-16) 2(16-16) 2(16-16) 2(16-16)
P12 1 (14) 2 (16-16) 2 (15-16) 2 (16-16) 2 (16-16)
P13 3(10-14-15) 2(15-16) 5(14-15-14-16-16) 2(16-16) 2(16-16)

Note. The first value of each cell represents the number of blocks required to reach the learning criterion, whereas
the value in parenthesis denotes the number of correct responses obtained in each block. Data in italics were
obtained by the White experimenter
* = SMTS
 Psychol Rec

Table 4 Participants’
performance on symmetry and Participant BA Symmetry CB Symmetry AC/CA Tests AC3 Test
equivalence tests
AC1 CA1 AC2 CA2 1 2

P1* 1 (16) 1 (16) 16 16 16 16 16 16

P2 1 (16) 1 (16) 16 15 16 15 16 16
P3 1 (15) 1 (16) 16 16 16 16 16 16
P4* 1(15) 1(16) 16 16 16 16 16 16
P5* 1(16) 3(8-11-16) 16 16 16 16 16 16
P6 1(16) 1(16) 14 16 16 16 16 16
P7* 1 (16) 1 (15) 16 15 16 16 15 16
P8* 1 (16) 1 (16) 16 16 16 16 16 15
P9 1 (16) 1 (16) 15 16 16 16 15 15
P10* 1 (16) 1 (16) 16 15 16 16 12 14
P11* 1(16) 1(15) 16 16 16 16 14 11
P12 1 (16) 1 (16) 16 16 16 16 13 12
P13 2(14-16) 1(16) 16 16 16 16 5 10

Note. The first value of each cell represents the number of blocks required to reach the learning criterion, whereas
the value in parenthesis denotes the number of correct responses obtained in each block. Data in italics were
obtained by the White experimenter
* = SMTS

mean D-IRAP scores were .67 for Black–positive, -.99 for
Black–negative, -.65 for White–positive, and -.99 for
White–negative. Scores did not deviate significantly from ze-
ro according to a series of one-sample t tests (p = .511 for
White–positive, p = .343 for White–negative, p = .529 for
Black–positive, and p = .342 for Black–negative). These re-
sults confirm the absence of negative bias toward Black faces
also evidenced by the SAM. Actually, the IRAP did not reveal
positive or negative biases toward either Black or White faces.
A Spearman Correlation test revealed strong correlation
between even and odd IRAP trials (r = .676, p < .01), indicating
high internal consistency of the IRAP.
Discussion
This study used a variation of the Conflicting Relations
Paradigm (training AB and BC matching so that poten-
tially emergent AC and CA relations would contradict
preexperimental relations). Specifically, children that tended

Fig. 4 Mean pleasure levels for

Black and White faces, pre- and
postclass formation
Psychol Rec

Table 5 Bias index b obtained via AC3 test on pre- and posttraining added White faces, which were not present during training.
Participant Phase Perhaps children would respond consistently with equivalence
if tests included only stimuli that appeared in training (as the
Pretraining Posttraining 1 Posttraining 2 standard AC and CA tests of the present study). One possible
interpretation for the results of the present study, therefore, is
P1* 5 -8 -8
that the probability of class formation was increased by the use
P2 14 -8 -8
of a more effective training protocol.
P3 5 -8 -8
There is another possibility to be considered (which does
P4* 9 -8 -8
not necessarily exclude the first one). Results of Fields and
P5* 4 -8 -8 colleagues (e.g., Doran & Fields, 2012; Fields, Landon-
P6 4 -8 -8 Jimenez, Buffington, & Adams, 1995; Moss-Lourenco &
P7* 7 -6 -8 Fields, 2011) showed that members of equivalence classes
P8* 8 -8 -7 may vary in their degree of relatedness as a function of nodal
P9 11 -7 -7 distance. A node is any stimulus that is related in training to
P10* 4 0 -4 two or more other stimuli. This has been confirmed by results
P11* 6 -4 2 of Bortoloti and de Rose (2009), who had established equiv-
P12 6 -2 0 alence classes comprising abstract stimuli and faces express-
P13 16 1 4 ing emotions, and showed that Semantic Differential ratings
of the abstract stimuli were similar to the equivalent faces, and
Note. Data in italics were obtained by the White experimenter
this similarity decreased as a function of nodal distance.
* = SMTS
Bortoloti and colleagues also showed that relatedness may
be a function of other training parameters, such as the
to relate faces of Black individuals to negative symbols in use of simultaneous or delayed matching in training, direc-
pretests were taught matching relations that would potentially tionality of training, overtraining, and the nature of the
lead to emergent relations between Black faces and positive stimuli used (Bortoloti & de Rose, 2011a, 2011b, 2012;
symbols. All 13 children responded according to these Bortoloti, Rodrigues, Cortez, Pimentel, & de Rose, 2013;
emergent relations in standard equivalence posttests. see also Silveira et al., 2015). Because several parameters
When posttests were modified to include White faces as may influence the degree of relatedness, the outcomes of
a third comparison stimulus, nine of 13 children continued the Conflicting Relations Paradigm may depend on how
to select Black faces when the samples were positive symbols much the training protocol is effective to maximize the
(and vice versa). degree of relatedness of prospective class members. In the
To our knowledge, the only previous study applying the present study, the choice of parameters may have increased
Conflicting Relations Paradigm to racial biases was reported the degree of relatedness between Black faces and positive
by de Carvalho and de Rose (2014). This earlier study repli- symbols to the extent of overriding preexistent incompati-
cated typical results with this paradigm: Only one of four ble relations. This increased relatedness of equivalent stim-
children showed emergent relations between Black faces and uli may be the reason why SAM evaluations of the Black
positive symbols. The reason why most children failed to faces were higher in the posttest than in the pretest. The
respond according to equivalence in that study may be the higher ratings in the SAM are consistent with stronger
interference of previous relations that conflicted with poten- transfer of positive functions from the positive symbols to
tially emergent relations. However, de Carvalho and de Rose the Black faces, compared with the study by de Carvalho
also raised the possibility that training parameters were less and de Rose (2014).
than optimal for equivalence class formation. Particularly, as Results consistent with this interpretation were obtained in
had been done in most earlier studies with the Conflicting a study that experimentally established conflicting relations
Relations Paradigm (Leslie et al., 1993; Moxon et al., 1993; (de Almeida & de Rose, 2015). An initial SMTS training
Watt et al., 1991), de Carvalho and de Rose tested only tran- produced three classes of equivalent stimuli, each containing
sitivity (AC) and combined symmetry and transitivity (CA), three abstract pictures and a face expressing emotions of
without testing symmetry relations. Therefore, it is possible happiness, anger, and neutrality, respectively. Semantic
that absence of symmetrical relations (BA and CB) could Differential ratings then showed a Btransfer of meaning^
account for failure to respond according to equivalence. A from the faces to the abstract stimuli equivalent to them.
few other procedural features in the de Carvalho and de Participants, at that point, received additional training to
Rose study may have also contributed to the test outcomes. shift class-membership of one of the arbitrary stimuli in
There was an abrupt withdrawal of differential consequences each class, and this shift was confirmed by equivalence
for responding in the equivalence tests. In addition, these tests tests. For instance, stimulus D1, initially equivalent to the

happy face, became equivalent to the angry face. This
training to shift class membership was conducted with
SMTS for one group and DMTS for another group.
After the shift in class membership, Semantic Differential
ratings of D1 for the DMTS trained group showed a shift
from positive to negative evaluations. SMTS training pro-
duced a less pronounced shift, from positive to neutral.
The authors attributed these differences to the stronger
relations generated by DMTS training, documented in earlier
studies (Bortoloti & de Rose, 2009, 2012).
Regarding the present study, we may presume that relations
between Black faces and negative attributes have been
established with some strength in the participants’
preexperimental histories. We may question, consequently,
whether a short training in a highly contrived experimental
setting could generate relations strong enough to contradict
the preexperimental ones. As a result, we may consider yet
another alternative interpretation for the apparent success of
this training to generate responding consistent with the
intended equivalence classes. It is possible that features of
the experimental setting functioned as contextual stimuli con-
trolling class membership (Bush, Sidman, & de Rose, 1989).
If this is the case, then we might speculate that responding
according to the intended equivalence classes would occur
only in the experimental setting, and children would continue
to respond consistently with their preexperimental history out-
side the laboratory.
Based on SAM evaluations, however, we may hypothesize
that, to the extent that this instrument has some predictive
validity outside the context in which they are applied, changes
in evaluation extended beyond the experimental context.
SAM evaluations before training showed a significant differ-
ence in favor of the White faces. After training, this difference
decreased and was no longer statistically significant. The
IRAP conducted after training also did not reveal significant
anti-Black biases. This is consistent with the SAM results
showing reduction of anti-Black biases. However, because
the IRAP used in this study did not reveal any bias, the pos-
sibility that this IRAP was just insensitive cannot be ruled out.
In future investigations, it is important to use the IRAP, or any
similar instrument, both in pre- and posttests.
Despite the fact that training could change participants’
racial biases, we should not be very optimistic about any last-
ing effects, because children would continue to live in the
same environment that established the racial biases. Future
studies should, thus, verify maintenance of training outcomes
in follow-up assessments and assess generalization outside the
experimental context.
Based on the results of de Almeida and de Rose (2015), we
should expect that DMTS would be more effective than
SMTS to produce responding consistent with equivalence
classes. This prediction was not confirmed in the present
study, possibly due to a ceiling effect, because all participants
Psychol Rec
attained criterion in the standard AC and CA tests, and most of
them attained criterion in the AC3 test.
The attempt to verify experimenter’s influence was incon-
clusive. The proportion of participants that failed the AC3 test
was higher with the White experimenter (40 %) than with the
Black experimenter (25 %). However, the number of partici-
pants was small, and the participant with the highest bias
(P13) was randomly assigned to the White experimenter.
Several children in the present study were themselves Black,
and from a relatively low socio-economic status. They may
have considered the experimenter to be in a position of pres-
tige and power. Meeting a Black person in such a position may
have influenced their evaluations. On the other hand, these
same children showed a negative bias toward Black faces in
the prescreening tests, with the same Black experimenter with
whom they worked throughout the experiment. Data from the
present study do not, consequently, provide conclusive data
about this question, which should be addressed in future
research.
Results of several studies support the conclusion that pos-
itive evaluations of meaningful stimuli may transfer to abstract
stimuli equivalent to them (e.g., Arntzen et al., 2016; Barnes-
Holmes et al., 2000; Bortoloti & de Rose, 2009, 2012; Smeets
& Barnes-Holmes, 2003; Straatman, Almeida, & de Rose,
2014). The present study extends these findings to a situation
involving conflicting relations: Positive evaluations were
transferred to stimuli that were negatively evaluated before
the experiment, and SAM results indicated an increase in the
valence of Black faces after they became equivalent to posi-
tive symbols.
It is tempting to speculate that the procedures of the present
experiment may be used in training programs to fight racism.
Guerin (2005) observed, however, that racial discrimination
comprises many different behaviors, possibly unrelated to one
another, and interventions that may be effective to change
some of these behaviors (such as, for instance, racial jokes)
may not be effective to change others (e.g. harassment).
Viewing all these various behaviors as instances of something
called Bracism^ is an essentialist position, which distracts
from finding the determinants of the actual behaviors and
consequently intervening on them. Regarding the present ex-
periment, the behaviors addressed were evaluations in a re-
stricted context: Black faces received lower evaluations than
White faces in the pleasure dimension of an instrument (SAM)
and were less likely to be related to a positive symbol and/or
more likely to be related to a negative symbol. Several of these
children were themselves Black. They have likely lived in a
social environment in which being Black is less valued than
being White. The procedures of this study, in this sense, may
have some promise to be used as elements of behavioral in-
terventions to change these evaluations in the future. Levin et
al. (2016), for instance, found that three variables, psycholog-
ical inflexibility, empathic concern, and perspective taking
Psychol Rec
were all independent predictors of generalized prejudice,
which can be defined as negative attitudes toward various
groups of people. Because both Black and White children
demonstrated negative racial biases on pretests, future studies
could use those variables in an intervention, aimed at lessen-
ing this negative bias.
Additional studies are necessary to replicate the present
results, and to extend them, using other types of instruments
and measures of racial bias. It is also important to conduct
studies with a larger number of participants and to assess
maintenance and generalization of the effects. Further re-
search should also explore additional variations in training
parameters. It would also be worthwhile to isolate the para-
metric changes introduced in the present study (symmetry
tests, simple-to-complex protocol, gradual withdrawal of feed-
back before tests) to identify the possible contribution of each
of them to the effectiveness of training. A replication using
faces of children rather than adults (or together with adults) as
training stimuli could also be carried out. Considering that
adults with racial biases have presumably a longer history of
reinforcement for prejudiced behavior, it would be worthwhile
as well to replicate this research with adult participants. It is
conceivable that racial biases of children will prove easier to
change, suggesting the importance of early interventions to
change racial biases, and the possible effects of the longer
reinforcement history of adults on their performances in this
racial version of the Conflicting Relations Paradigm.
Acknowledgments We thank Deisy de Souza, leader of INCT-ECCE,
for her encouragement and support for this research.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Funding This study was funded by the Brazilian National Research
Council (CNPq, Grant 573972/2008-7) and the São Paulo Research
Foundation (FAPESP, Grant 2008/57705-8).
Conflict of Interest The authors declare they have no conflict of
interest.
Ethical Approval This research was approved by the institutional
Ethical Review Board, in accordance with Brazilian guidelines for ethical
conduct in research with human participants.
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