DEI Methods May Cause Psychological Harm

There is a new study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) and Rutgers University that claims some diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training methods may cause psychological harm.

The study, released last 25 November, 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."

A Pew Research Center study from 2023 found that 52 percent of American workers have DEI training events or meetings at work and, according to Professor Iris Bohnet with the Harvard Kennedy School, US$ 8 billion is spent annually on such programs.

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.

Their study included sharing anti-racist DEI materials from thought leaders like Ibram X. Kendi and "White Fragility" author Robin DiAngelo with participants involved. Specifically, the NCRI focused on materials which emphasized awareness of and opposition to "systemic oppression," popularized by texts such as Kendi’s "How to Be an Antiracist."

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."