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Implicit bias

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Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.

Implicit bias is thought to be shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender. Individuals’ perceptions and behaviors can be influenced by the implicit biases they hold, even if they are unaware they hold such biases. Implicit bias is an aspect of implicit social cognition: the phenomenon that perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes can operate prior to conscious intention or endorsement.

Adapted from the APA Dictionary of Psychology and Wikipedia

Resources from APA

Is justice blind if we say it is?

A U.S. Supreme Court case raises the issue of whether jurors can determine how influenced they are by potentially biasing characteristics of a defendant.

Can we unlearn implicit biases? With Mahzarin Banaji, PhD

Banaji talks about where implicit biases come from, the difference between implicit bias and prejudice, and which biases have lessened—and which have not—in recent years.