thinking). While implicit bias is not a realized bias, explicit bias is a known, straightforward bias. Explicit biases, positive or negative, and the consequences of the biases being intentional. Video: Conscious Mind
Through self-reflection and psychological testing, we can find our hidden biases and usually feel ashamed and desire to change the behavior caused by the previously unknown bias. Evidence-Based Consideration While implicit bias is not a realized bias in guiding judgment and action, it can be measured indirectly. Explicit bias is a known, straightforward bias that can be measured directly. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a tool used by researchers to detect unconscious biases. There are specific IAT tests for known implicit biases such as weight, skin tone, race, sexuality, and religion. You can take an IAT at https:// implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/education.html
Video: Dr. Reese
While our implicit biases may be muted in their effects on our awareness and behavior, the unconscious associations are attributed to unequal treatment of people based on the abovementioned factors. Other terms that may be used synonymously with implicit bias are unconscious bias and hidden bias. With implicit bias, unconscious connections may support learned biases in processing information rather than allowing a conscious appraisal of a person, situation, or environment (Greenwald et al., 2022; Sellaro et al., 2015). A Neurological Perspective The environments we interact with are so busy that the brain does not have time to interpret everything happening around us (Agarwal, 2020). Our brain filters out information that may be important in determining how we react to someone. Our first instincts, or decisions in how we act, are made without fully processing or interpreting the entirety of the environment. These initial decisions are based on previous social interactions, memories, and experiences, where the original biases formed. This is considered emotional thought, which processes much more quickly than the analytical thought process within the brain. We are filling in the details of the experience through our assumptions, meaning that without realizing it, we are writing the story and experiencing a meaning that may not be factual. Our brain automatically categorizes information obtained through our senses and extrapolates information about an individual based on observable traits, factors, and characteristics. The information gathered can be categorized as cultural stereotypes that include ethnicity, gender, age, weight, clothing, hobbies, grooming, and speech and are related to learned cultural stereotypes about this information. When the brain categorizes the information gathered about someone, it automatically activates the unconscious attitudes/biases that guide the person-to- person interaction (Reihl et al., 2015; Sellaro et al., 2015). This is an essential defense mechanism used to help us make prompt decisions about the environment and social interactions. The prompt decision is linked to the amygdala, which works to protect us; therefore, most unconscious biases are safety related (Cardiology, 2020). Cultural stereotyping is classified as person-specific knowledge or semantic knowledge. In studies using imaging such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), different brain areas light up in response to cultural stereotypes. Neural activation is seen in the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus, temporoparietal junction, and anterior temporal lobes. These are also the areas used for understanding semantic
knowledge specific to language (Reihl et al., 2015). See Table 1 for more information on the main roles of the areas of the brain. Evidence-Based Consideration A 2015 study by Reihl and colleagues used fMRI to compare brain images with the length of time participants were shown a stimulus. When viewing the image for 2 seconds, the brain lit up more, mainly in the prefrontal cortex, than when the image was viewed for 8 seconds. The lateral prefrontal cortex was activated when participants were shown photographs related to stigmas. However, the areas of the brain that lit up differed according to the length of time the participant was allowed to look at the photographs. Video: Stereotyping
Our brain uses categorizing to simplify stimuli from the environment. Biases come from social categorization, which defines our social identity, the basis for deriving our self- esteem (Sellaro et al., 2015). Unconscious thought happens very quickly through a coding or categorizing process.
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