Results of Implicit Attitude Test

My Implicit Attitude Test result shows”a moderate automatic association for American with Asian American and Foreign with European American.” This result implies that my implicit bias is mild. Based on this result, I argue that implicit bias influences the idea of the reliability or validity of the selection process through an inherent impression, or steretypes.

First, what impressed me on this test was that when I first remembered a letter for a particular group, I kept remembering it. Although the letter may represent another group in another round, I still make my choice based on my first impression. As it is noted, “Also known as implicit social cognition, implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner” (The Kirwan Institute). As the first impression stimulates the unconscious, my behavior has conceptualized certain group as a stereotype. This stereotype guides me to have a persistent impression of a particular letter. For example, I developed a certain stereotype of the letter “E” when it first stood for European American. This stereotype clouded my judgment to such an extent that when the “E” appeared again, I tended to identify it as a European American rather than foreign. This stereotype ultimately affected the reliability and validity of my selection process.

I think one thing that prevents implicit bias is anonymous selection. Usually, when interviewing, the recruiter will first receive resumes of candicates. Therefore, I recommend removing the candidate’s gender and photo from the resume to avoid the recruiter identifying the candidate’s race and gender, which will avoid implicit bias. Also, during the interview process, I advise candidates to use written responses to answer the interviewer’s questions. During this process, the interviewer will not see the candidate’s skin color nor identify his or her race or gender. This method will well avoid the implicit bias that the interviewer may have.

Source:

“Understanding Implicit Bias.” The Kirwan Institute, May 29, 2012. https://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/article/understanding-implicit-bias.