2.2 Implicit Bias

Implicit Bias

Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, refers to negative attitudes that individuals are not consciously aware of (Gopal et al., 2021). These biases operate at an unconscious level and can influence behavior and perceptions of specific social groups.  Implicit bias involves unconscious associations, beliefs, or attitudes toward any social group. It leads people to attribute certain qualities or characteristics to all members of a particular group, a phenomenon known as stereotyping. Explicit biases are intentional and controllable, while implicit biases are less conscious. People may express explicit disapproval of certain attitudes while still harboring similar biases unconsciously.

Implicit bias can be attributed to both natural brain tendencies and influence of environment and conditioning.  Human brains naturally seek patterns and form associations (Zescott, Blair & Stone, 2016). Humans tend to take mental shortcuts to simplify the overwhelming amount of information encountered (Gopal et al., 2021).  Environmental influences that contribute to implicit associations include  cultural conditioning, upbringing, and media portrayals. These implicit biases may not align with our conscious sense of self (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). Implicit biases can impact behavior, decision-making, and interactions while contributing to disparities in areas like healthcare, education, and law enforcement (Schwartz, 2020). In the United States, people of color experience disparate outcomes compared to other populations which impact the quality of care received and ultimately aggregate health outcomes (Hall et al., 2015).

Strategies for Reducing Implicit Bias

Understanding implicit bias is critical because both positive and negative unconscious beliefs can lead to structural and systemic inequalities. However, because it operates outside our awareness, if we want to reduce it, we first need to become conscious of it (Schwartz, 2020). One  strategy for impacting our own actions is to  recognize unconscious thinking and societal influences. This can be accomplished through self-reflection in an effort to regularly examine examine self biases and assumptions. Education is another strategy that can lead to learning about different social groups and challenge our own stereotypes  while learning how to address those of others that may be harmful to  populations (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017).

Taking the Implicit Associations Test (IAT) can help healthcare providers realize that everyone has implicit biases. Recognizing them for what they are increases the likelihood that harmful effects of implicit biases won’t impact health outcomes for others. Unconscious bias towards a particular group can be reduced through interaction with members of that group.. Exposure to information that defies stereotypes that persist about groups or individuals, such as images of female scientists, can counter gender stereotypes(Gopal et al., 2021).. Although raising awareness is important, it’s not enough. The most successful training programs are ones that allow individuals to discover their biases in a non-confrontational manner and also give them the tools to reduce and manage their biases (Schwartz, 2020) (Zescott, Blair & Stone, 2016).

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