In 1998, three scientists created what is now known as Project Implicit. The project had its humble beginnings rooted in a seemingly innocuous association test that had vast implications for society in its entirety. We have have biases. We are biased about our clothes, our hair products, the car we drive but the biases that we are afraid to admit to are addressed by this test. In a quick paced visual association test, a respondent is given several sets of items with instructions to associate specific items with specific responses (Not many, if any, would want to freely admit they have biases for or against varying demographics and the point of implicit biases is that you are not aware of them). The response time is then calculated and thus your implicit biases can be measured. On the surface, it seems simple however, the test itself is incredibly intuitive and the first of its kind.
Since its creation, the data has been pooled and the book Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People was published in 2013. The book submerges the reader into the methodology of the researches and what sets their work apart from any other reporting and testing methods. The biggest factor is that the test itself is relatively free from self-monitoring possibilities. Participants are largely unaware of how the test is measuring their biases and the real validity behind the measures. This provides a highly accurate compilation of results.
The test measures biases on a range of topics: race, disability, sex, weight, sexuality, weapons, age and even presidents. What they have found throughout their research is that far more people than any of us would like to believe have implicit biases that could be affecting their day to day decisions and could subsequently affect others. There are many American citizens that would love to believe that racism died with the civil rights movement, the advent of desegregation and affirmative action but unfortunately that just is not the case. We may see it with our own eyes as we scroll through the various feeds of social media or view the comments section on YouTube or even CSPAN videos. However, we might tell ourselves that these are just troll accounts or even perhaps just Russian bots attempting to divide and conquer. The disappointing reality is that there is still deep seated racism in the minds of many. This project set out to document that.
The way in which the researchers assess the overwhelming amount of residual bias in our world today, is an incredibly objective one. They reference the “automatic and reflective” reactions of the mind. One is conscious (reflective) and the other unconscious (automatic). Our implicit biases reside in that unconscious part of our mind that is shaped by our experiences and the memories formed from them. Those associations that develop are exactly what the test brings to light in a record-able black and white form of data to be measured. Although the validity and reliability of this test is high, many people are faced with high amounts of cognitive dissonance when staring down their results. How we deal with this dissonance can determine whether these implicit biases are addressed or not.
References:
Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2016). Blindspot: hidden biases of good people. New York: Bantam Books.
ProjectImplicit. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2018, from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
(n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2018, from http://www.projectimplicit.net/