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Implicit Bias

Having implicit bias means we unconsciously hold attitudes towards others or associate negative stereotypes with them.

Implicit Bias

“Implicit bias” – also called “unconscious bias” – exists when we unconsciously hold attitudes towards others or associate negative stereotypes with them. It is a prejudice deep-seated within the brain, below the conscious level. Various studies have shown implicit bias against racial groups, genders, the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized people.

Implicit bias often runs counter to our conscious, expressed beliefs. For example, few people advocate for discrimination in hiring, but research shows that white applicants receive far more responses from potential employers than do black applicants with the same resume.

Implicit bias can also exist at a systemic level. In the criminal legal system, for example, research reveals what is called the “black-crime implicit bias,” which affects prosecutors, judges, potential jurors, witnesses, parole boards, pathologists, and police officers. This implicit racial bias causes black people (as compared to white people) to be 7.5 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder, 8 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of rape, and 19 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of serious drug crimes.

Because implicit bias operates at a mostly unconscious level, it is difficult for us to overcome. Acknowledging its role is critical to addressing implicit bias. And, as some research shows, safeguards can be put in place to minimize its dangerous impact.

Bibliography

Mahzarin Banaji & Anthony Greenwald, Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People (2013).

Marianne Bertrand et al., Implicit Discrimination, 95 American Economic Review 94 (2005).

Jack Glaser & Eric Knowles, Implicit Motivation to Control Prejudice, 44 Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 164 (2008).

A.R. Green et al., Implicit Bias Among Physicians and Its Prediction of Thrombolysis Decisions for Black and White Patients, 22 Journal of General Internal Medicine 1231 (2007).

Jerry Kang et al., Implicit Bias in the Courtroom, 59 UCLA Law Review 1124 (2012).

Daniel Kelly et al., Race and Racial Cognition, in The Moral Psychology Handbook 433 (John M. Doris, ed. 2010).

Gregory Mitchell, “An Implicit Bias Primer,” (March 2018), available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3151740.

National Registry of Exonerations, University of Michigan Law School & University of California Irvine available at https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/browse.aspx

Cognitive Bias

Cognitive Bias

Cognitive biases are errors in thinking that affect people’s decision-making in virtually every situation.

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Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is our tendency to seek out or interpret information that supports our pre-existing beliefs, expectations, or hypotheses.

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Conformity Bias

Conformity Bias

The Conformity Bias describes people’s tendency to take their behavioral cues from those around them.

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In-group/Out-group

In-group/Out-group

The In-group/Out-group phenomenon describes the fact that we tend to judge and treat people who are like us more favorably than people who are different from us.

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