Lai, C. K., & Wilson, M.
(2020, December 9).
Abstract
Implicit intergroup biases are automatically activated prejudices and stereotypes that may influence judgments of others on the basis of group membership. We review evidence on the measurement of implicit intergroup biases, finding: implicit intergroup biases reflect the personal and the cultural, implicit measures vary in reliability and validity, and implicit measures vary greatly in their prediction of explicit and behavioral outcomes due to theoretical and methodological moderators. We then discuss three challenges to the application of implicit intergroup biases to real‐world problems: (1) a lack of research on social groups of scientific and public interest, (2) developing implicit measures with diagnostic capabilities, and (3) resolving ongoing ambiguities in the relationship between implicit bias and behavior. Making progress on these issues will clarify the role of implicit intergroup biases in perpetuating inequality.
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Predictive Validity
Implicit intergroup biases are predictive of explicit biases, behavioral outcomes, and regional differences in inequality.
Relationship to explicit prejudice & stereotypes.
The relationship between implicit and explicit measures of intergroup bias is consistently positive, but the size of the relationship depends on the topic. In a large-scale study of 57 attitudes (Nosek, 2005), the relationship between IAT scores and explicit intergroup attitudes was as high as r= .59 (Democrats vs. Republicans) and as low as r= .33 (European Americans vs. African Americans) or r = .10 (Thin people vs. Fat people). Generally, implicit-explicit relations are lower in studies on intergroup topics than in other topics (Cameron et al., 2012; Greenwald et al., 2009).The strength of the relationship between implicit and explicit intergroup biases is moderated by factors which have been documented in one large-scale study and several meta-analyses (Cameron et al., 2012; Greenwald et al., 2009; Hofmann et al., 2005; Nosek, 2005; Oswald et al., 2013). Much of this work has focused on the IAT, finding that implicit-explicit relations are stronger when the attitude is more strongly elaborated, perceived as distinct from other people, has a bipolar structure (i.e., liking for one group implies disliking of the other), and the explicit measure assesses a relative preference rather than an absolute preference (Greenwald et al., 2009; Hofmann et al., 2005; Nosek, 2005).
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Note: If you are a healthcare professional, you need to be aware of these biases.