I have heard of implicit bias tests before and have always wanted to test my unconscious prejudices. For this assignment, I chose to take the racial biases test because racial discrimination is a current, hot-button issue in the media. Also, as a management major, I want to monitor my prejudices before I am in a position where I manage others. I never want to make someone uncomfortable at work or hold back careers because of my implicit bias towards a group.
According to the results, my responses suggested no automatic preference between Black people and White people. I do not consider myself prejudiced, but I was surprised by my results because most test takers show an automatic preference for European American compared to African American. Also, according to The Kirwin Institute, our implicit associations do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect the stances we would explicitly endorse. As a European American, I expected to be mildly biased. I wonder if my Implicit Association Test results would change if there were more images of women in the test; as a woman, I suspect that I have an automatic preference to associate men with negative words and women with positive ones. If there were more European American women than African American women, it might have skewed my results, and vice versa.
According to Keith Payne’s piece in the Scientific American Journal, the Implicit Association Test results are not entirely reliable, resulting in individuals having experienced low stability in their test results. Because of this, I need to take action to prevent implicit biases from developing. Michele Ruiz lists ten steps I can take as a business manager to minimize implicit bias within my organization. The action that stood out to me was number three: being transparent about the hiring and promotion process. If I hold myself accountable, I will have nothing to hide about how people are managed.
Payne, K. (2018, March 27). How to think about ‘implicit bias’. Scientific American. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-think-about-implicit-bias/
Ruiz, M. (2021, November 9). 10 ways to reduce the damaging impact of unconscious bias on your business. Forbes. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2021/05/17/10-ways-to-reduce-the-damaging-impact-of-unconscious-bias-on-your-business/?sh=4cbe7f00367d
The Kirwan Institute. (2012, May 29). Understanding implicit bias. Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/article/understanding-implicit-bias
