Implicit and Explicit Bias

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond

Living the Pledge Workshop

How does implicit and explicit bias differ?

Attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner

Implicit b

ias

lives here

Explicit bias lives here

Look at explicit bias

“Explicit bias” refers to the attitudes and beliefs we have about a person or group on a conscious level.

Much of the time, these biases and their expression arise as the direct result of a perceived threat.

When people feel threatened, they are more likely to draw group boundaries to distinguish themselves from others.

http://perception.org/research/explicit-bias

Implicit biases are pervasive

Implicit biases are pervasive 

such as judges

even people with avowed commitments to impartiality

Implicit and explicit biases

Related but distinct mental constructs

They are not mutually exclusive and may even reinforce each other

“Hi, I’m Implicit”

And I’m

Explicit

Do not necessarily align

The implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs

or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse

Generally favor our own ingroup

I love my people! We’re

the best!

I wish my people were as smart as others.

We generally tend to hold implicit biases that favor our own ingroup

Though research has shown that we can still hold implicit biases against our ingroup

Malleable

Implicit biases are malleable. 

Our brains are incredibly complex, and the implicit associations that we have formed can be gradually unlearned through a variety of debiasing techniques.

Characteristics of Implicit Bias Summary

• Pervasive• Related but distinct from explicit bias•Do not necessarily align with our beliefs•Generally favor our ingroup•Maleable – can be re-learned

Implicit Association Test

PROJECT IMPLICIThttps://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

• Did you take the Race test?• How did you do?• Did the results surprise you?• Do you think they were an accurate representation of your

attitudes?• How do you feel about the results?

Dateline: Implicit Association Testhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Q5FQfXZag

How do explicit and implicit biasescontribute to systemic racism?

So how do we change our implicit biases?

• Increase exposure to people who counter the stereotypes, i.e. build new associations

• Engage in education about implicit bias

• Develop a sense of accountability, that is, “the implicit or explicit expectation that one may be called on to justify one’s beliefs, feelings, and actions to others,” can decrease the influence of bias

• Take the perspective of others

• Engage in deliberative processing

Resources

Material for this session was adapted from research by Perception Insitututehttp://perception.org/research/explicit-bias/

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicityhttp://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu

Project Implicithttps://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html