Implicit Bias

• Pages: 205-230
• Author: Khiara M. Bridges

205

Chapter 9

IMPLICIT BIAS

Implicit bias might be most easily defined by contrasting it with

explicit bias: Where explicit biases are those feelings and attitudes of

which a person is completely aware, implicit biases are those same

feelings and attitudes of which they are not cognizant.

Implicit bias certainly has been much discussed,

1

and critical

thinkers about race have been finding it a helpful concept for

explaining existing racial stratification. Indeed, many progressive

race scholars have devoted their scholarship to it. They have

theorized the relationship between implicit racial biases and white

racial dominance, documented the prevalence of implicit biases

against racial minorities, and proposed reforms that might work to

eliminate or reduce the impact of implicit racial biases. While this

work around implicit bias has been well-received for the most part,

some have been apprehensive about it. This chapter provides an

overview of implicit bias research, describes proposals for its

application in the law, and then discusses critiques that have been

levied against it—both from those on the political right and political

left.

I. What Are Implicit Biases?

We might begin with some terminology. In the field of social

psychology, “attitudes” are defined as “evaluative dispositions”—the

sense that one likes or dislikes something.

2

So, for example, many

(but definitely not all) vegetarians have a favorable attitude towards

tofu and an unfavorable attitude towards steak tartare. In other

words, many vegetarians like tofu (which, if prepared properly, can

be delicious) and dislike steak tartare (it is raw meat, after all).

A “stereotype” is an “association between a social group or

category and a trait.”

3

A stereotype about vegetarians might be that

they are very health-minded individuals; in this example, the social

group of vegetarians is associated with the trait of health-

mindedness. Now, if it were true that all vegetarians were, indeed,

health-minded, then it would not be a stereotype to say as much:

1

A search in LexisNexis in December 2025 showed that the term has appeared

in close to 1,500 cases, 6,700 pieces of legislation, and 9,000 law review articles.

2

Anthony Greenwald & Lin da Hamilton Krieger, Implicit Bias: Scientific

Foundations, 94 CALIF. L. REV. 945, 948 (2006).

3

Id. at 949.

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IMPLICIT BIAS

Ch. 9

health-mindedness would be a “defining attribute” of the group.

4

However, in reality, many vegetarians do not possess this

characteristic; they drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, eat fried foods,

and fail to exercise regularly or at all. Thus, it is accurate to say that

any association between vegetarians and wholesome living is a

stereotype—even if vegetarians are statistically more likely to be

health-minded than are non-vegetarians.

People may or may not be aware of the attitudes that they

possess or the stereotypes that they harbor. We define “explicit

attitudes” and “explicit stereotypes” as the attitudes and stereotypes

about which individuals are aware; implicit attitudes and implicit

stereotypes are the ones about which individuals are unaware.

We arrive now at our definition of “implicit biases”: They are

“discriminatory biases based on implicit attitudes and implicit

stereotypes.”

5

Biases may be positive or negative. You might have an

unconscious fondness of vegetarians—because you may

unconsciously associate them with a healthy lifestyle. If so, then you

have an implicit bias in favor of vegetarians. Or, conversely, you may

have an unconscious animosity towards vegetarians—because you

may unconsciously associate them with the trait of self-

righteousness. If so, then you have an implicit bias against

vegetarians.

The Implicit Association Test, or IAT, is a common means of

measuring implicit biases. As described by legal scholar Dayna

Bowen Matthew, the IAT is a “computer-based test that works on the

straightforward premise that when people are asked to associate

photographs with words that are consistent with their implicitly held

beliefs about those pictures, they will make those associations

quickly. But when people are asked to connect photographs with

words they would not naturally or automatically associate with those

photographs, their response times will be too slow to allow them to

override their automatic instincts.”

6

For example, if someone wanted

to measure whether you are implicitly biased against vegetarians,

they would generate an IAT that asks you to press a key on the right

when you see prompts for vegetarian-related words (i.e., tofu,

vegetables, PETA) as well as when you see prompts for pleasant

words (i.e., good, nice, happy); you would be asked to press a key on

the left when you see prompts for non-vegetarian-related words (i.e.,

steak, filet, hamburger) as well as when you see prompts for

4

Jerry Kang et al., Implicit Bias in the Courtroom, 59 UCLA L. REV. 1124, 1128

(2012).

5

Greenwald & Krieger, supra note 2, at 951.

6

DAYNA BOWEN MATTHEW, JUST MEDICINE: A CU RE FOR RACIAL INEQUALITY IN

AMERICAN HEALTH CARE 45 (2015).