I took the racial bias test
And the results were not good
Implicit bias is the attribution of certain qualities to specific groups of people without our conscious knowledge. Mostly commonly, it is the attribution of negative qualities to minority groups. While attribution itself is problematic, it rarely stops there. Bias usually manifests itself as discrimination.
This iconic study by Bertrand and Mulainathan found that white-sounding names receive 50% more interview callbacks than African American names. This bias is most likely implicit since any reasonable recruiter would be rightfully alarmed if instructed to screen out candidates with Black sounding names — and yet, that is exactly what they were doing in practice.
While intentional bias can be more easily identified and dealt with, implicit bias is difficult to stop because we don’t realize we are participating in it. The first step to stopping implicit bias is to acknowledge that most of us have it, since we have been exposed to negative stereotypes of Black people since we were young. The second step is to exercise that awareness while making decisions — to pause for a moment to ask ourselves if implicit bias is shaping the decision we are weighing.
Developing self-awareness: the Implicit Assessment Test (IAT)
I was required to take the gender bias test as a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School. It’s a quick, 5-minute test of reflexes and impossible to game. As a proud feminist, it was a shock to discover I held biased views against women. Since then, I have both repeated the test every year to check if I am getting better (I am not), but also as a reminder to stay vigilant against myself.
Because I want to be a better ally to Black friends, I took the racial bias test this year.
I came out biased against African Americans.
What does this mean for me?
I am a product manager in payments identity and privacy, core areas that often gate access to financial services. Given my implicit bias, I have to be vigilant that features I design do not leave themselves open to even unintentional discrimination against Black users. The statistical distribution above shows that two thirds of those who take this IAT are also biased against Black people thus not only do I have to stay vigilant against myself, but also make sure I am calling out gaps that others may have missed.
It feels a little scary to put this out on the internet but I still choose to do so because the work of racial justice begins with the self. Only then can I elicit the help of others to call out my blind spots and collectively we can put guardrails in our workplaces, schools and neighborhoods so that bias does not translate to harm.
Do me a favor? Please take the Implicit Assessment Test here (time required 5 minutes)
Note: I know the IAT is not without its shortcomings since the evidence to connect performance on the test to actual acts of discrimination is difficult if not impossible to establish experimentally. However, thus far, this is the most experimentally sound tool I have found that can quantify some level of bias but am always looking for newer tools and evidence in this field. Please let me know!
