Some diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training methods may cause psychological harm, according to a new study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University.
The study's findings, released Monday, show significant increases in hostility and punitive attitudes among participants exposed to DEI pedagogy covering subjects including race, religion, and caste.
The NCRI study focused on diversity training interventions that emphasize awareness of and opposition to "systemic oppression," a trend fueled by the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and popularized by texts such as Ibram X. Kendi's, "How to Be an Antiracist."
"Across all groupings, instead of reducing bias, they engendered a hostile attribution bias, amplifying perceptions of prejudicial hostility where none was present, and punitive responses to the imaginary prejudice," researchers said in a release explaining the study's findings.
"These results highlight the complex and often counterproductive impacts of pedagogical elements and themes prevalent in mainstream DEI training."
The researchers said anti-Islamophobia training inspired by Institute for Social Policy and Understanding 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," researchers said.
"In the effort to improve sensitivity to genuine injustices against people from designated identities, such trainings may instead create a hostile attribution bias. This could, in turn, undermine trust in institutions, even in the absence of bias or unfair treatment (as in our scenarios). These findings are particularly concerning given that ISPU's educational efforts include training Federal Agents on Islamophobia sensitivity."
The study used caste sensitivity training materials from Equality Labs in trying to evaluate the effects of DEI rhetoric.
"These findings mirror those of our other DEI studies, where participants exposed to anti-racist narratives or to ostensible anti-Islamophobia narratives perceived more injustices (when there was no evidence of injustice) than did those exposed to a neutral scenario. And like in our other studies, caste sensitivity training seems to engender divisive assumptions, encouraging more punitive responses," the researchers said.
"These results suggest that caste sensitivity training, along with other training delivered within an anti-oppressive DEI framework, may create hostile attribution biases that negatively distort perceptions of interpersonal interactions and promote rather than ameliorate intergroup hostilities."