Implicit biases can be consciously overridden through deliberate attention

Evidence

With the participants now often eager to understand the link between this simple exercise and race and ethnicity, trainers explain that implicit biases are not personal but are automatic associations that follow from stereotypes learned from culture, society, and one’s environment. Trainers often emphasize that the fact that biases are implicit does not mean that they dictate our actions, but to prevent them from doing so, we need to be aware that they are operating (Kirwan, 2018). The Stroop test offers an opportunity to show this—by engaging in the exercise a second time and slowing down, participants are able to complete the test successfully and experience themselves overriding their learned behavior. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1362

Consciousness raising. Research on the role of attention in weakening the effects of implicit cognition (reviewed above) supports consciousness raising as a strategy for avoiding unintended discrimination. That is, when a decision maker is aware of the source and nature of a bias in judgment, that bias may effectively be anticipated and avoided. Consciousness raising may also have some value in attenuating implicit bias when the source of implicit bias is not properly identified, as suggested by findings that attentional effort reduces effects of weak cues. … The controversiality of affirmative action is well captured by its frequently being described as “reverse discrimination.” To discriminate in favor of a disadvantaged group may seem a defect even to those who desire only not to discriminate against them. At the same time, research on implicit social cognition provides several bases for concluding that unintended discrimination can be avoided only by deliberately applying compensatory strategies. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 254

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1362; Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 254
• XREF: connects to: The implicit association test measures bias via response latency on concept-sorting tasks. — Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, Christian Orthodoxy, Religious…, 25; Cognitive biases are hardwired parts of human brains rather than avoidable mistakes. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 115; Bird augury works as a randomization device countering cognitive and copying biases — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 347 (+7 more)