scholarly journals Do Implicit Racial Biases Have Significant Discriminatory Effects?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Fuller
Keyword(s):  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Behavioral Effects ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Meta Analyses

This article investigates whether implicit racial biases have significant discriminatory effects. To this end, it evaluates meta-analyses of studies on measures of implicit bias and behavioral effects to which they are correlated. On balance, I maintain, the best interpretation of these meta-analyses and relevant surrounding research supports the conclusion that implicit racial biases are significantly correlated to racially biased behaviors, with effects that are consequential at both the individual and group levels. This conclusion is compatible with, but does not entail, the proposition that implicit racial biases in fact cause such effects. In consequence, I consider the contribution implicit bias research might make to our best accounts of racial discrimination and inequality on both a casual and non-causal construal. I argue it is plausible that research on implicit racial bias, on either construal, will play a substantive role in such accounts.

Centering Race in Mixed and Multi-Method Research on Implicit Bias: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-73
Author(s):  
Peggy Shannon-Baker
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Methodological Approaches

Understanding how we form and maintain implicit racial biases can help identify how to disrupt them. With this goal in mind, mixed and multi-method research approaches offer researchers the ability to combine various methodological approaches to explore the formation, experiences, and impact of implicit racial bias. This article therefore provides a critical descriptive systematic review of empirical mixed and multi-method studies on implicit bias and race. This review is based on the following research questions: (a) What are the theoretical and methodological features among empirical studies on race and implicit bias that use mixed or multi-method approaches? and (b) what are the opportunities for theoretical and/or methodological expansion in this literature? The criteria for inclusion in the review are the use of a multi-method (e.g., qualitative and quantitative) or mixed method (e.g., integrating qualitative and quantitative) approach in an empirical study, implicit racial bias is the main or one of the main concepts being studied, and the work (published or unpublished) was dated 1995-2019. The studies in this review often had no theoretical framework or one that did not center race. This is noteworthy because race-specific theoretical frameworks can be used to contextualize the study of implicit bias and race in racism, to define race, and to align with the following important features of mixed and multi-method studies: substantiating the use of multiple methods, prioritizing one or more methodological approaches, analyzing and integrating data, and reflecting on the researcher’s own positionality.

The Effect of Implicit Racial Bias on Recognition of Other-Race Faces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobiasz Trawinski ◽  
Araz Aslanian ◽  
Olivia S. Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Ability Test ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Recognition Ability

Previous research has established a possible link between recognition performance, individuation experience, and implicit racial bias of other-race faces. However, it remains unclear how implicit racial bias might influence other-race face processing in observers with relatively extensive experience with the other race. Here we examined how recognition of other-race faces might be modulated by observers’ implicit racial bias, in addition to the effects of experience and face recognition ability. Caucasian participants in a culturally diverse city completed a memory task for Asian and Caucasian faces, an implicit association test, an experience questionnaire towards Asians and Caucasians, and a face recognition ability test. Overall, participants showed significantly better recognition performance for other- than own-race faces. More importantly, recognition performance for other-race faces was positively predicted by increased face recognition ability, experience with Asians, and negatively predicted by increased positive bias towards Asians, which was modulated by an interaction between face recognition ability and implicit bias, with the effect of implicit bias observed predominantly in observers with high face recognition ability. Moreover, significant differences were observed among the positions of the first two fixations when participants learned the other-race faces, with the first fixation modulated by the effect of experience and the second fixation modulated by the interaction between implicit bias and face recognition ability. Taken together, these findings suggest the complexity in understanding the perceptual and socio-cognitive influences on the other-race effect, and that observers with high face recognition ability may more likely evaluate racial features involuntarily when recognizing other-race faces.

scholarly journals Historical roots of implicit bias in slavery

2019 ◽  
pp. 201818816 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Keith Payne ◽  
Heidi A. Vuletich ◽  
Jazmin L. Brown-Iannuzzi
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Explicit Bias ◽  
Black Residents ◽  
Structural Inequalities

Implicit racial bias remains widespread, even among individuals who explicitly reject prejudice. One reason for the persistence of implicit bias may be that it is maintained through structural and historical inequalities that change slowly. We investigated the historical persistence of implicit bias by comparing modern implicit bias with the proportion of the population enslaved in those counties in 1860. Counties and states more dependent on slavery before the Civil War displayed higher levels of pro-White implicit bias today among White residents and less pro-White bias among Black residents. These associations remained significant after controlling for explicit bias. The association between slave populations and implicit bias was partially explained by measures of structural inequalities. Our results support an interpretation of implicit bias as the cognitive residue of past and present structural inequalities.

scholarly journals Is physician implicit bias associated with differences in care by patient race for metastatic cancer-related pain?

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0257794
Author(s):  
Kevin Fiscella ◽  
Ronald M. Epstein ◽  
Jennifer J. Griggs ◽  
Mary M. Marshall ◽  
Cleveland G. Shields
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Metastatic Lung Cancer ◽  
Opioid Prescription ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Randomized Field Experiment ◽  
Metastatic Lung

Rationale Implicit racial bias affects many human interactions including patient-physician encounters. Its impact, however, varies between studies. We assessed the effects of physician implicit, racial bias on their management of cancer-related pain using a randomized field experiment. Methods We conducted an analysis of a randomized field experiment between 2012 and 2016 with 96 primary care physicians and oncologists using unannounced, Black and White standardized patients (SPs)who reported uncontrolled bone pain from metastatic lung cancer. We assessed implicit bias using a pain-adaptation of the race Implicit Association Test. We assessed clinical care by reviewing medical records and prescriptions, and we assessed communication from coded transcripts and covert audiotapes of the unannounced standardized patient office visits. We assessed effects of interactions of physicians’ implicit bias and SP race with clinical care and communication outcomes. We conducted a slopes analysis to examine the nature of significant interactions. Results As hypothesized, physicians with greater implicit bias provided lower quality care to Black SPs, including fewer renewals for an indicated opioid prescription and less patient-centered pain communication, but similar routine pain assessment. In contrast to our other hypotheses, physician implicit bias did not interact with SP race for prognostic communication or verbal dominance. Analysis of the slopes for the cross-over interactions showed that greater physician bias was manifested by more frequent opioid prescribing and greater discussion of pain for White SPs and slightly less frequent prescribing and pain talk for Black SPs with the opposite effect among physicians with lower implicit bias. Findings are limited by use of an unvalidated, pain-adapted IAT. Conclusion Using SP methodology, physicians’ implicit bias was associated with clinically meaningful, racial differences in management of uncontrolled pain related to metastatic lung cancer. There is favorable treatment of White or Black SPs, depending on the level of implicit bias.

scholarly journals Virtual body ownership and its consequences for implicit racial bias are dependent on social context

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 201848
Author(s):  
Domna Banakou ◽  
Alejandro Beacco ◽  
Solène Neyret ◽  
Marta Blasco-Oliver ◽  
Sofia Seinfeld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Black People ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Short Exposure ◽  
White Female ◽  
Body Ownership ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Virtual Body

When people hold implicit biases against a group they typically engage in discriminatory behaviour against group members. In the context of the implicit racial bias of ‘White' against ‘Black' people, it has been shown several times that implicit bias is reduced after a short exposure of embodiment in a dark-skinned body in virtual reality. Embodiment usually leads to the illusion of ownership over the virtual body, irrespective of its skin colour. Previous studies have been carried out in virtual scenarios that are affectively neutral or positive. Here, we show that when the scenario is affectively negative the illusion of body ownership of White participants over a White body is lessened, and implicit bias is higher for White participants in a Black virtual body. The study was carried out with 92 White female participants, in a between-groups design with two factors: BodyType (their virtual body was White or Black) and a surrounding Crowd was Negative, Neutral or Positive towards the participant. We argue that negative affect prevents the formation of new positive associations with Black and distress leads to disownership of the virtual body. Although virtual reality is often thought of as an ‘empathy machine' our results suggest caution, that this may not be universally the case.

scholarly journals Teachers Are People Too: Examining the Racial Bias of Teachers Compared to Other American Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan G. Starck ◽  
Travis Riddle ◽  
Stacey Sinclair ◽  
Natasha Warikoo
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
National Data ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Role Of Teachers

Schools are heralded by some as unique sites for promoting racial equity. Central to this characterization is the presumption that teachers embrace racial equity and teaching about this topic. In contrast, others have documented the ongoing role of teachers in perpetuating racial inequality in schools. In this article, we employ data from two national data sets to investigate teachers’ explicit and implicit racial bias, comparing them to adults with similar characteristics. We find that both teachers and nonteachers hold pro-White explicit and implicit racial biases. Furthermore, differences between teachers and nonteachers were negligible or insignificant. The findings suggest that if schools are to effectively promote racial equity, teachers should be provided with training to either shift or mitigate the effects of their own racial biases.

scholarly journals To Blame? The Effects of Moralized Feedback on Implicit Racial Bias

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Scaife ◽  
Tom Stafford ◽  
Andreas Bunge ◽  
Jules Holroyd
Keyword(s):  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Feedback Condition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Behavioural Intentions ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Biases ◽  
Neutral Tone ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Intentions To Change

Implicit bias training (IBT) is now frequently provided by employers, in order to raise awareness of the problems related to implicit biases, and of how to safeguard against discrimination that may result. However, as Atewologun et al. (2018) have noted, there is very little systematicity in IBT, and there are many unknowns about what constitutes good IBT. One important issue concerns the tone of information provided regarding implicit bias. This paper engages this question, focusing in particular on the observation that much bias training is delivered in exculpatory tone, emphasising that individuals are not to blame for possessing implicit biases. Normative guidance around IBT exhorts practitioners to adopt this strategy (Moss-Racusin et al. 2014). However, existing evidence about the effects of moralized feedback about implicit bias is equivocal (Legault et al. 2011; Czopp et al. 2006). Through a series of studies, culminating in an experiment with a pre-registered analysis plan, we develop a paradigm for evaluating the impact of moralized feedback on participants’ implicit racial bias scores. We also conducted exploratory analyses of the impact on their moods, and behavioural intentions. Our results indicated that an exculpatory tone, rather than a blaming or neutral tone, did not make participants less resistant to changing their attitudes and behaviours. In fact, participants in the blame condition had significantly stronger explicit intentions to change future behaviour than those in the ‘no feedback’ condition (see experiment 3). These results indicate that considerations of efficacy do not support the need for implicit bias feedback to be exculpatory. We tease out the implications of these findings, and directions for future research.

scholarly journals The Effects of Oncologist Implicit Racial Bias in Racially Discordant Oncology Interactions

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (24) ◽  
pp. 2874-2880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis A. Penner ◽  
John F. Dovidio ◽  
Richard Gonzalez ◽  
Terrance L. Albrecht ◽  
Robert Chapman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Patient Perceptions ◽  
Patient Treatment ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Patient Centeredness ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Treatment Disparities ◽  
Bias Measure

Purpose Health providers’ implicit racial bias negatively affects communication and patient reactions to many medical interactions. However, its effects on racially discordant oncology interactions are largely unknown. Thus, we examined whether oncologist implicit racial bias has similar effects in oncology interactions. We further investigated whether oncologist implicit bias negatively affects patients’ perceptions of recommended treatments (i.e., degree of confidence, expected difficulty). We predicted oncologist implicit bias would negatively affect communication, patient reactions to interactions, and, indirectly, patient perceptions of recommended treatments. Methods Participants were 18 non-black medical oncologists and 112 black patients. Oncologists completed an implicit racial bias measure several weeks before video-recorded treatment discussions with new patients. Observers rated oncologist communication and recorded interaction length of time and amount of time oncologists and patients spoke. Following interactions, patients answered questions about oncologists’ patient-centeredness and difficulty remembering contents of the interaction, distress, trust, and treatment perceptions. Results As predicted, oncologists higher in implicit racial bias had shorter interactions, and patients and observers rated these oncologists’ communication as less patient-centered and supportive. Higher implicit bias also was associated with more patient difficulty remembering contents of the interaction. In addition, oncologist implicit bias indirectly predicted less patient confidence in recommended treatments, and greater perceived difficulty completing them, through its impact on oncologists’ communication (as rated by both patients and observers). Conclusion Oncologist implicit racial bias is negatively associated with oncologist communication, patients’ reactions to racially discordant oncology interactions, and patient perceptions of recommended treatments. These perceptions could subsequently directly affect patient-treatment decisions. Thus, implicit racial bias is a likely source of racial treatment disparities and must be addressed in oncology training and practice.

The Mixed Outcomes of Taking Ownership for Implicit Racial Biases

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1424-1434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Cooley ◽  
Ryan F. Lei ◽  
Taylor Ellerkamp
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Prejudice Reduction ◽  
Implicit Measure ◽  
Implicit Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Biases ◽  
Explicit Prejudice ◽  
Mixed Outcomes ◽  
Potential Strategy

One potential strategy for prejudice reduction is encouraging people to acknowledge, and take ownership for, their implicit biases. Across two studies, we explore how taking ownership for implicit racial bias affects the subsequent expression of overt bias. Participants first completed an implicit measure of their attitudes toward Black people. Then we either led participants to think of their implicit bias as their own or as stemming from external factors. Results revealed that taking ownership for high implicit racial bias had diverging effects on subsequent warmth toward Black people (Study 1) and donations to a Black nonprofit (Study 2) based on people’s internal motivations to respond without prejudice (Internal Motivation Scale [IMS]). Critically, among those low in IMS, owning high implicit bias backfired, leading to greater overt prejudice and smaller donations. We conclude that taking ownership of implicit bias has mixed outcomes—at times amplifying the expression of explicit prejudice.

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