Unconscious Bias Training Making People Increasingly Biased

Since 1998 the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a test measuring “the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., black people, gay people) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad) or stereotypes (e.g., athletic, clumsy) [i] (Implicit.harvard.edu, 2017) has been used to determine an individual’s so-called biases towards certain social groups [ii] (The Guardian, 2009).

However, it is folly to draw the conclusion that a test whose results rely on the reaction time of participants to associate words with people of certain social groups [iii] (Tierney, 2008) can accurately predict their unconscious biases. In fact, it has been proven that the result of an individual can change each time they take the test. In other words, the test has low retest reliability [iv] (Singal, 2017). Even an advocate for the test stated that “If a bathroom scale says you weigh 210 pounds today and 160 tomorrow, you might feel skeptical about the scale” [v] (Nordell, 2017).

Indeed, the evidence suggests that the implied correlation between unconscious bias and discriminatory behaviour is, at best, weak. This is in part, due to the dubious nature of the tests method as described above [vi] (Blanton et al., 2009).

If the results of the IAT have done one thing, then it has created a culture in the business environment of businesses feeling compelled to tackle the issue of their employee’s unconscious biases. How do businesses approach this? With the introduction of unconscious bias training programmes. However, organisations who implement this type of training do not notice that it can often have the complete opposite effect to that of what was intended. This is since it can normalise poor decisions, with individuals being liberated to hold the view that; "everyone holds biases, and there's nothing wrong with that" [vii] (Florentine, 2017).

A piece of advice to remember if anyone is ever asked to attend an unconscious bias training programme is, by participating in that programme you have already agreed that you are racist, sexist, homophobic and ageist. In fact, the co-creators of the IAT state that between 90-95% of people fall into these categories through their unconscious biases (Singal, 2017).

By following the logic of unconscious biases, they are by definition, unconscious. Are we now expected to question each decision we make? Are people supposed to overcome the process of automatic categorisation which is genetically wired into us? [viii] (Branan, 2017)  

Don’t fall into the trap of this postmodernism led fallacy, it is not a stretch to view these training curriculums as an attack on the validity of every thought and decision which we generate.

---

[i] Implicit.harvard.edu. (2017). Frequently Asked Questions. [online] Available at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].

[ii] The Guardian (2009). Are you prejudiced? Take the implicit association test. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/07/implicit-association-test [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].

[iii] Tierney, J. (2008). In Bias Test, Shades of Gray. The New York Times. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/science/18tier.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].

[iv] Singal, J. (2017). Psychology’s Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn’t Up to the Job. [online] NY Mag. Available at: http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/01/psychologys-racism-measuring-tool-isnt-up-to-the-job.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].

[v] Nordell, J. (2017). Is This How Discrimination Ends?. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/unconscious-bias-training/525405/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].

[vi] Blanton, H., Jaccard, J., Klick, J., Mellers, B., Mitchell, G. and Tetlock, P. (2009). Strong claims and weak evidence: Reassessing the predictive validity of the IAT. Journal of Applied Psychology, [online] 94(3), pp.567-582. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.537.5766&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].

[vii] Florentine, S. (2017). Does unconscious bias training really work?. [online] CIO. Available at: https://www.cio.com/article/3184019/hiring/does-unconscious-bias-training-really-work.html [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].

[viii] Branan, N. (2017). Are Our Brains Wired for Categorization?. [online] Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wired-for-categorization/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2017].