Journal of general internal medicine
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This paper applies social cognition research to understanding and ameliorating the provider contribution to racial/ethnic disparities in health care. We discuss how fundamental cognitive mechanisms such as automatic, unconscious processes (e.g., stereotyping) can help explain provider bias. ⋯ These conditions-time pressure, fatigue, and information overload-are frequently found in health care settings. We conclude with implications of the social-cognitive perspective for developing interventions to reduce provider bias.