The test that I chose to take for this assignment was the one for assessing gender-career bias. This test presented me with words that were related to the concepts of men, women, career, and family. While doing the test, I was about equally fast at associating men and women with both career and family roles, showing that I do not hold a strong implicit gender bias in this way.
While I may not have a strong implicit bias, implicit biases as a threat to the reliability or validity of selection processes may be present. Implicit biases may be identified as threats to reliability and validity when selection is done according to subjective criteria. For example, criteria that attempts to ascertain whether the person will fulfill certain gendered roles within an organization may make assumptions about that person’s personality and their competence. Course materials and readings showed that these kinds of subjective assessments appear in informal assessment situations, such as interviewing procedures. Implicit biases could also strike down the validity of certain assessments if stereotypical expectations of certain groups cause evaluators to unfairly assess candidates.
In reviewing the course materials and readings, it becomes clear that best practices to counteract implicit biases include using structured selection procedures such as structured interviews with standardized questions relevant to job performance. While I personally do not have strong implicit gender biases according to this test, my awareness of how these biases could manifest outside my perspective allows me to understand how best to create fair and effective employment practices.
References
Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102(1), 4–27.
Project Implicit. (n.d.). Gender–Career Implicit Association Test. Harvard University.
Be Better Blog. (n.d.). Understanding Implicit Bias – and How To Work Through It.
Scientific American. (n.d.). How to Think About Implicit Bias