Post Detail

New study finds DEI initiatives creating 'hostile attribution bias'

The study, released on Monday, shows significant increases in hostility and punitive attitudes among participants exposed to DEI pedagogy covering subjects like race, religion and caste.

This hostile attribution bias may contribute to increased intergroup hostility and authoritarian behavior in the long run, according to study co-author and NCRI Chief Science Officer Joel Finkelstein.

"What we did was we took a lot of these ideas that were found to still be very prominent in a lot of these DEI lectures and interventions and training," said Finkelstein in an interview with Fox News Digital. "And we said, ‘Well, how is this going to affect people?’ What we found is that when people are exposed to this ideology, what happens is they become hostile without any indication that anything racist has happened."

NCRI's research showing perception of racial bias between those exposed to anti-racist education material like that of Kendi and DiAngelo and that of the control group. (Courtesy of the National Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University)

As DEI programs have become a major area of investment in recent years, their actual effectiveness remains a topic of debate, with NCRI's study suggesting they may exacerbate tensions rather than alleviate them. The study measured "explicit bias, social distancing, demonization, and authoritarian tendencies" with both the DEI materials and control materials.

Author Robin DiAngelo during an interview on June 17, 2020. (NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Those exposed to anti-racist materials were linked to heightened perceptions of racial bias in the study. Participants were also more likely to support punitive measures against perceived offenders of so-called "microaggressions," even in the absence of evidence.

"And when people are supposed to see anti-racist material in the ideology, it looks like what happens is that they become more likely to punish for any evidence of wrongdoing," said Finkelstein. "That includes protesting people, calling for dismissal, demanding public apologies, receiving people calling for their relocation. These punitive measures are, in some cases, costing people their jobs."

NCRI's research showing perception of racial bias between those exposed to anti-racist education material like that of Kendi and DiAngelo and that of the control group. (Courtesy of the National Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University)

The NCRI used materials from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), which "provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making," according to its website.

These results suggest that anti-Islamophobia training inspired by ISPU materials may cause individuals to assume unfair treatment of Muslim people, even when no evidence of bias or unfairness is present. This effect highlights a broader issue: DEI narratives that focus heavily on victimization and systemic oppression can foster unwarranted distrust and suspicions of institutions and alter subjective assessments of events.

Results from the NCRI study showing perception of ethnic bias in a criminal trial between those exposed to the anti-Islamophobia education material and a control essay. (Courtesy of the National Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University)

One key takeaway from Finkelstein in the NCRI study is that the authoritarianism that comes from hostile attribution bias looks different in the 21st century. 

According to Finkelstein, those who are likely to carry hostilities are "people who are higher in what's called left-wing authoritarianism. This is now a steady phenomenon. We the people have been studying right-wing authoritarianism since World War II. It's really only in the past 10 or 15 years that people have started saying, 'Wait a minute, this is on the left, too."

Across all groupings, instead of DEI materials reducing bias, the study discovered they engendered a hostile attribution bias amplifying perceptions of prejudicial hostility where none was present.

People march outside the office of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman protesting his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion and attacks against former Harvard University President Claudine Gay in New York City, January 4, 2024. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

"They're bad ideas, because they're hurting people; and that appears from research and appears to be far more prevalent and is shockingly public, these harms can be extremely widespread," said Finkelstein. "So I think that is grounds to believe that from this research, and it suggests that we need to be focused on this data, and we need more data like it. [But we can] start evaluating what's happening here, and I don't think this is about speech. I certainly think it's about people's civil rights."

Representatives DiAngelo did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

When reached for comment, Kendi slammed both Fox News and the study, calling it "pseudoscience." 

"It comes as no surprise that Fox News would broadcast this pseudoscience that isn’t peer-reviewed, misrepresents my work, and is based on anchoring bias," Kendi said. "This so-called study will end up in the historic landfill of pseudoscience alongside other attempts to bring scientific legitimacy to racist propaganda that anti-slavery and civil rights then, and DEI and antiracism now have been harmful."

Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.