scholarly journals Facing One’s Implicit Biases: From Awareness to Acknowledgment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Hahn ◽  
Bertram Gawronski

Expanding on conflicting theoretical conceptualizations of implicit bias, six studies tested the effectiveness of different procedures to increase acknowledgment of harboring biases against minorities. Participants who predicted their responses towards pictures of various minority groups on future IATs showed increased alignment between implicit and explicit preferences (Studies 1-3), greater levels of explicit bias (Studies 1-3), and increased self-reported acknowledgment of being racially biased (Studies 4-6). In all studies, effects of IAT score prediction on acknowledgment were significant even when participants did not actually complete IATs. Effects of predicting IAT scores were moderated by non-prejudicial goals, in that IAT score prediction increased acknowledgment of bias for participants with strong non-prejudicial goals, but not for participants with weak non-prejudicial goals (Study 4). Mere completion of IATs and feedback on IAT performance had inconsistent effects across studies and criterion measures. Instructions to attend to one’s spontaneous affective reactions toward minority group members increased acknowledgment of bias to the same extent as IAT score prediction (Study 6). The findings are consistent with conceptualizations suggesting that (1) implicit evaluations are consciously experienced as spontaneous affective reactions and (2) directing people’s attention to their spontaneous affective reactions can increase acknowledgment of bias. Implications for theoretical conceptualizations of implicit bias and interventions that aim to reduce discrimination via increased acknowledgment of bias are discussed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 574-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram Gawronski

Skepticism about the explanatory value of implicit bias in understanding social discrimination has grown considerably. The current article argues that both the dominant narrative about implicit bias as well as extant criticism are based on a selective focus on particular findings that fails to consider the broader literature on attitudes and implicit measures. To provide a basis to move forward, the current article discusses six lessons for a cogent science of implicit bias: (a) There is no evidence that people are unaware of the mental contents underlying their implicit biases; (b) conceptual correspondence is essential for interpretations of dissociations between implicit and explicit bias; (c) there is no basis to expect strong unconditional relations between implicit bias and behavior; (d) implicit bias is less (not more) stable over time than explicit bias; (e) context matters fundamentally for the outcomes obtained with implicit-bias measures; and (f) implicit measurement scores do not provide process-pure reflections of bias. The six lessons provide guidance for research that aims to provide more compelling evidence for the properties of implicit bias. At the same time, they suggest that extant criticism does not justify the conclusion that implicit bias is irrelevant for the understanding of social discrimination.


2005 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Katarzyna Zaremba

The aim of this study was to examine evaluations of multiple groups by both ethnic majority-group (Dutch) and minority-group (Turkish-Dutch) members during a turbulent political period in the Netherlands, marked by the rapid rise and subsequent decline of a new-rightist, populist movement. The analysis of cross-sectional data from three periods (2001 to 2003) showed clear changes in these evaluations. As expected, both the Dutch and the Turkish participants showed higher ingroup identification and ingroup evaluation in 2002 than in 2001 and 2003. In addition, in 2002 the Dutch participants evaluated the Islamic outgroups (Turks and Moroccans) more negatively, whereas their evaluation of other ethnic minority groups did not differ across the three years. In contrast, Turkish participants evaluated all ethnic outgroups, including the Dutch and the Moroccans, more negatively in 2002. We conclude that it is important to study ethnic relations across time, in relation to political circumstances, from the perspective of both majority- and minority-group members, and in relation to different ethnic outgroups.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismael Diaz ◽  
Mindy E. Bergman

Ruggs et al. (2013) argued that industrial–organizational (I–O) psychologists have “gone fishing” insofar as we (as a field) have neglected conducting research on minority groups in the workplace. They offer interesting and insightful suggestions for researching the seven groups named in their paper. We believe that many of these ideas can be extended to other minority groups as well. It is our sincere hope that the focal article will attract the attention of both new and established researchers interested in studying minority group members' experiences in the workplace. We also hope that the article will validate and motivate researchers who already study these issues and confirm the importance of including minority perspectives in the I–O literature.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Devos ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran ◽  
Chris G Sibley

Using a nationally representative sample, the present research tested whether conceptions of national identity differentially predicted attitudes toward bicultural policies among New Zealanders of European, Māori, Asian, and Pacific descent. A series of multi-group structural equation models revealed that among members of the majority group and all minority groups, endorsement of a civic conception of national identity (i.e., respecting political institutions and laws) was related to opposition to resource policies, but such a relationship was especially strong among the majority group. By contrast, endorsement of an ethnic conception of national identity (i.e., having Māori or European ancestry) was related to support for resource and symbolic policies among minority group members, but to opposition to the same policies among the majority group. The present work documents that belonging to a majority vs. minority group moderates the relations between conceptions of national identity (civic vs. ethnic) and support or opposition to specific bicultural policies. In addition, some elements of civic conceptions of national identity may legitimize inequalities rather than reduce them.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110109
Author(s):  
Gian Antonio Di Bernardo ◽  
Loris Vezzali ◽  
Michèle D. Birtel ◽  
Sofia Stathi ◽  
Barbara Ferrari ◽  
...  

A field study was conducted with majority and minority group members to test whether the effects of optimal contact conditions and of intergroup contact generalize across situations, and extend to the support of intergroup equality in terms of agreement with social policies benefitting the minority group. Participants were 163 Italian and 129 immigrant workers in three corporate organizations. Results from structural equation modelling analyses revealed that, for the majority group, positive contact stemming from optimal contact conditions was indirectly associated, via reduction in negative stereotypes, with more positive behavior that generalized across situations. For both majority and minority groups, positive contact stemming from optimal contact conditions was associated with less negative stereotypes, and in turn with greater support for social policies favoring the minority. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, also in relation to the significance of the present results for research investigating the relation between intergroup contact and social change.


1983 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-185
Author(s):  
Emidio Sussi

This essay concentrates on the psycho-sociological and socio-cultural aspects of relations among ethnic groups in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, especially between Slovenes and the other ethnic groups. Therefore it will not deal with the following two points: the ethno-minority problem of the Slovenes in Italy in demographic and ecologic terms (such as, for example, the number of members in a specific group, their territorial dislocation, etc.), or the problem of their socio-professional relations and of their institutional structures (such as, the distribution of minority group members in the professional stratification, the existence of economic, political and cultural structures within the minority groups, etc.).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas R. Kunst

In many countries, individuals who have represented the majority group historically are decreasing in relative size and/or perceiving that they have diminished status and power compared to those identifying as immigrants or members of ethnic minority groups. These developments raise several salient and timely issues including: (a) how majority-group members’ cultural orientations change as a consequence of increasing intercultural contact due to shifting demographics; (b) what individual, group, cultural and socio-structural processes shape these changes; and (c) the implications of majority-group members’ acculturation. Although research across several decades has examined the acculturation of individuals identifying as minority-group members, much less is known about how majority-group members acculturate in increasingly diverse societies. We present an overview of the state of the art in the emerging field of majority-group acculturation, identify what is known and needs to be known, and introduce a conceptual model guiding future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 324-356
Author(s):  
Nina Schroeder

Abstract This paper considers the artist Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719) as an unconventional Christian and sheds new light on his representation of artists from religious minority groups in his Great Theatre of Netherlandish Painters and Painteresses (1718–1721). By exploring Houbraken’s years within the Flemish Mennonite milieu in Dordrecht (1660–ca. 1685) and investigating his representation of religious difference in his biographies within The Great Theatre, this study extends scholarship on Houbraken beyond the current focus on his later years as a writer in Amsterdam, and it offers findings on the experience and reception history of nonconformists and religious minority group members, like the spiritualist David Joris and the Mennonite martyr Jan Woutersz van Cuyck (among others), within the Dutch art world. The paper also addresses the historiographical disconnect between literature in the disciplines of art history, intellectual history, and history of religion that persisted until very recently regarding Houbraken’s status as a heterodox Enlightenment thinker.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Costa Krug ◽  
Marcelo Faria Silva ◽  
Ottmar V. Lipp ◽  
Peter B. O’Sullivan ◽  
Rosicler Almeida ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Previous studies in a high-income country have demonstrated that people with and without low back pain (LBP) have an implicit bias that bending and lifting with a flexed lumbar spine is dangerous. These studies present two key limitations: use of a single group per study; people who recovered from back pain were not studied. Our aims were to evaluate: implicit biases between back posture and safety related to bending and lifting in people who are pain-free, have a history of LBP or have current LBP in a middle-income country, and to explore correlations between implicit and explicit measures within groups. Methods Exploratory cross-sectional study including 174 participants (63 pain-free, 57 with history of LBP and 54 with current LBP). Implicit biases between back posture and safety related to bending and lifting were assessed with the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants completed paper-based (Bending Safety Belief [BSB]) and online questionnaires (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia; Back Pain Attitudes Questionnaire). Results Participants displayed significant implicit bias between images of round-back bending and lifting and words representing “danger” (IATD-SCORE: Pain-free group: 0.56 (IQR=0.31–0.91; 95% CI [0.47, 0.68]); history of LBP group: 0.57 (IQR=0.34–0.84; 95% CI [0.47, 0.67]); current LBP group: 0.56 (IQR=0.24–0.80; 95% CI [0.39, 0.64])). Explicit measures revealed participants hold unhelpful beliefs about the back, perceiving round-back bending and lifting as dangerous (BSBthermometer: Pain-free group: 8 (IQR=7–10; 95% CI [7.5, 8.5]); history of LBP group: 8 (IQR=7–10; 95% CI [7.5, 9.0]); current LBP group: 8.5 (IQR=6.75–10; [7.5, 9.0])). There was no correlation between implicit and explicit measures within the groups. Conclusions In a middle-income country, people with and without LBP, and those who recovered from LBP have an implicit bias that round-back bending and lifting is dangerous.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquie D. Vorauer ◽  
Matthew S. Quesnel

The present research examined how messages advocating different intergroup ideologies affect outcomes relevant to minority group members’ ability to exert power in exchanges with dominant group members. We expected that salient multiculturalism would have positive implications for minority group members’ feelings of power by virtue of highlighting essential contributions they make to society, and that no such empowering effect would be evident for them in connection with alternative ideologies such as color-blindness or for dominant group members. Results across four studies involving different participant populations, operationalizations of ideology, ethnic minority groups, and experimental settings were consistent with these hypotheses and further indicated that the effects of salient multiculturalism on feelings of power had downstream implications for expectations of control in an ostensibly upcoming intergroup interaction and general goal-directed cognition.


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