Ch 13.12 - Implicit Biases

Political Correctness

how can prejudice exist in such a politically correct world? - de-legitimizing people with different skin tones, gender. implications that people making these claims are trying to take advantage of society in some form

A Curious Contradiction

Individuals declarations of not holding any bias at odds with disproportionate use of force on minority groups - charles kinsey, called out to address someone with mental health crisis (autism) at same time police went to address a suicide claim. police shot him despite putting his hands up = bias based on gender

Multicultural, Eh?

People of Indigenous descent make up 5% of the overall population, yet >25% of the prison population. 54% in MB. - committing same crimes as non-Indigenous people grant them longer/heavier sentences

Implicit Associations Test

Measures how fast people respond to stereotype-consistent and stereotype-inconsistent stimuli (can run on computer, categorizing words & faces - takes longer to associate black faces with positive words)

People who score higher/associate less black faces with positive words = more active amygdala

Event-related potentials differ depending on race and gender within 200ms!

Converging Evidence

Implicit associations test is not perfect

• Results are not always stable across repeating testings (concern but also biases are changeable over time)

• Does not predict an individuals tendency for discrimination (shows role of conscious process)

Evidence for implicit bias shows up in other contexts in which decisions are based on implicit processes (slowing down for a white vs black pedestrian, studies find more refuse to stop in sight of black person)