Most of us have some form of racial bias or preference that affects how we relate to others.
Studies have shown that people can be consciously committed to racial equality but still retain a "mental residue" of biases, or at least, a sense of unease in their dealings with people of different races from their own. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of racial bias: conscious biases (those we know we have and will admit to) and unconscious biases (those that reside in our subconscious, often in contradiction to explicit beliefs we overtly hold about racial equality and discrimination). Learning new instructional strategies without a deeper understanding of these unconscious biases limits an educators’ expertise. Without that deeper understanding of their own dispositions, educators will continue to categorize, label, filter and misalign expectations of individual and collective student ability based on race, ethnicity and English language proficiency rather than actual academic potential. Moreover, people who have been the victims of racial discrimination or know that people of their race are likely to be discriminated against, are often “on alert” for evidence of subtle prejudice or disingenuous.
Implicit Association Tests, or IATs, measure unconscious (or automatic) preferences for one group over another. They are a research-based way of examining our comfort levels in interactions with people of races different from our own. The basic finding of research on this test is that almost everyone is vulnerable to influences, such as media, and limited interaction with diverse groups, that can result in discomfort and difficulty relating to people of different races and ethnicities. These tests don't measure how biased or racist the test-taker is but instead help the user interrogate his or her own automatic assumptions and preferences in order to develop a deeper understanding of the role that race plays in our society and personal perceptions.
To explore the nature of racial preference and prejudice further, examine the following resources.
Learning Resources and Activities
- Harvard professor Mica Pollock discusses the importance of teachers' examining their biases toward the adoption of an anti-racist framework.
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.
Additional Resources
Take the "Race IAT" and "Skin Tone IAT" at Project Implicit. Created by researchers at Harvard, Yale, the University of Washington and the University of Virginia, these implicit associations tests (IATs) measure unconscious or hidden attitudes and beliefs about race and skin tone and will tell you whether you have hidden preferences for whites or blacks and for light skin or dark skin, and to what degree. The tests will present you with images and words that you will then to match according to the provided instructions. When you finish the tests, an assessment of your "preference" for certain characteristics will be revealed.
For Large Groups/Pre-Service Settings
Dr. Eva Zygmunt-Fillwalk and Dr. Patricia Clark, both of Ball State University, have used the IATs with more than 500 practicing teachers as a way to begin dialogue on issues of race, power, privilege and education for social justice. Learn how they do it.
A quick Google search will reveal that Project Implicit has faced some criticism in academic circles about the IATs. In 2008, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 103 studies, involving nearly 11,000 subjects, to examine issues surrounding the tests. The analysis confirmed the validity of the IAT. Read the findings.
