What can we do about implicit biases?

Because implicit biases are often described as automatic and ubiquitous, people’s first response is often to throw up their hands and assume nothing can be done. Importantly, implicit biases can be changed (though it may be hard) and are clearly shaped by our cultural contexts and associations in these contexts.  

The first step is to acknowledge that implicit bias exists and to document the ways in which implicit bias affects important outcomes in our community (e.g., health care, education, jobs). This includes conducting research with populations and groups relevant to the community in Hawaiʻi. 

The second step is to understand where implicit biases come from and what research says is the best approach to cultivate change in implicit biases. Implicit biases form early—implicit gender and racial biases, for example, emerge between 3 and 6 years of age, but these biases vary across cultural contexts and can be disrupted by interventions. The existing pairings present in our social environments inform what biases develop. For example, the media depicts repeated biased representations (e.g., White people are treated more positively than people of color; men are depicted in higher-status occupations than women), and both children and adults can pick up on these patterns. While interventions to reduce implicit biases often find small changes overall, interventions that focus on exposure to positive outgroup exemplars who demonstrate counter-stereotypical behavior are among the more effective methods of implicit bias reduction.

The third step is to recognize the ways in which policies, structures, institutions, and our cultural settings reinforce implicit biases. Focus on ways to make policy and structural changes to settings, not just on fixing individuals. People are likely to continue to return to their biases, if their settings reinforce these biases. For example, a company could implement blind hiring practices where social identities (e.g., gender, race, etc.) of the job applicant are masked or create a clear decision criteria rubric before they conduct evaluations. A school could examine cultural messages about different groups in the curriculum and make sure children have exposure to positive, counterstereotypical outgroup members. There are numerous ways in which we can combat implicit biases through making thoughtful decisions informed by research. 

References

Forscher, P. S., Lai, C. K., Axt, J. R., Ebersole, C. R., Herman, M., Devine, P. G., & Nosek, B. A. (2019). A meta-analysis of procedures to change implicit measures. Journal of personality and Social Psychology, 117, 522-559. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000160

Lai, C. K., Skinner, A. L., Cooley, E., Murrar, S., Brauer, M., Devos, T., . . . Nosek, B. A. (2016). Reducing implicit racial preferences: II. Intervention effectiveness across time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(8), 1001-1016. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000179

Payne, B. K., Vuletich, H. A., & Lundberg, K. B. (2017). The bias of crowds: How implicit bias bridges personal and systemic prejudice. Psychological Inquiry, 28(4), 233-248. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2017.1335568

Payne, B. K., & Vuletich, H. A. (2018). Policy insights from advances in implicit bias research. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 5(1), 49–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732217746190

Qian, M. K., Quinn, P. C., Heyman, G. D., Pascalis, O., Fu, G., & Lee, K. (2019). A long-term effect of perceptual individual training on reducing implicit racial bias in preschool children. Child Development, 90, e290-2305. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12971

Weisbuch, M., Pauker, K., & Ambady, N. (2009). The subtle transmission of race bias via televised nonverbal behavior. Science, 326(5960), 1711-1714. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1178358