Implicit bias operates without intention and can contradict conscious egalitarian values

Evidence

The focus on “bad” is in line with many people’s commonsense notions of bias as a moral failing that requires some degree of animus and bad intention (DiAngelo, 2018). Decades of empirical social scientific research, however, demonstrate that bias requires no intention or awareness at all. Bias is often implicit, meaning that we have thoughts and feelings about others of which we are unaware but which nonetheless can profoundly affect our judgments and behavior—even when we do not want to be influenced and even when we are consciously committed to egalitarianism (Devine, 1989). Empirical evidence of racial disparities in policing echoes the voices of people of color who, for generations, haven spoken of being treated differently by law enforcement. At the same time, police officers overwhelmingly deny that explicit racial profiling occurs in their agencies. The science of implicit bias tells us both can be simultaneously true, which paves the way for us to focus more on impact, instead of exclusively on intention. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 393

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s core question about the sincere-conviction-vs-measured-bias gap — professed egalitarianism (and police denial of profiling) does not predict measured discriminatory behavior. — connects to: Avowals of egalitarianism signal hidden prejudice even under conservative tests — Drew S. Jacoby-Senghor and Michael Rosenblum and N. Derek Brown, Not all egalitarianism is created…, 87; Neither intrinsic nor social religion predicts measured implicit racial bias — Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, Christian Orthodoxy, Religious…, 73; Modern antiblack bias stems from perceived value violations, not biological inferiority claims — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 32
• QUESTION: The reader’s research asks what happens when a threat-hardened belief is rationally corrected — does this implicit-bias research imply egalitarian commitment itself fails as corrective? Worth chasing.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 393