Final Assignment

Implicit Bias

Implicit bias is the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions,

and decisions unintentionally. Bias can mean a belief and also can be neutral, positive, or

sometimes negative. Bias is your personal preference for something. It can be a person,

place, or thing. Implicit biases can impact our decisions, perceptions, and behaviors. This

leads to your actions and decisions resulting in barriers that happen outside our

consciousness. A stereotype is your own beliefs that are mentally associated with a given

category.

“We rely on our implicit cognition to move through the world. Given this,

uncovering your biases and understanding their effects on your life and others is critical

to ensuring that intentions and outsides align. I like that they used Pavlov classical

conditioning about how our brains work. The way our brains perceive and categorize

people, and people’s identities like race and gender. Like the gal mentions that she was

always known to see men working and women home raising kids. For me both my

parents worked but it is different for everyone.

In the implicit bias in academic achievement, I thought the two studies were very

interesting. The first study done showed that “students race affected how teachers

interpreted student’s imaginative play as it pertained to their ratings for school readiness,

and the student’s behavior.” Black students in the study were rated as less academically

prepared and less accepted by peers. The results of white students were more positive for

school readiness and peer interaction. The second study showed that “teachers with

strong, implicit pro-White biases were more likely to take a “teach to the test” approach.”
This study also showed that teachers that used the culturally responsive method promoted

mutual respect and resolving conflicts in their classrooms with all students. The implicit

bias in school discipline was very interesting to learn about. I think like the video

mentions are that there is a huge cultural difference in schools. Most schools around here

are white females or males, so I do think there is that cultural mismatch between students

and teachers. I know the schools I work at we have similar situations where the colored

students are sent to the office more disruptive and disrespected behaviors than white

students.

Implicit racial bias affects all genders, but research has shown that Black males

are perceived by their behavior and it is associated with how educators view them.

Taking the implicit bias test was a lot harder than I remember. I have taken the test in the

past for work. It was required for one of our training. It is hard to remember which keys

to push and then they kept changing what each key signified so it was a lot of memory

and also trying to be quick and categorize the pictures as accurately as possible. My

results showed that I was a moderate association between Blacks with Animals over

humans. Having to categorize black verse white, animal or white, black or human. And

then they would switch it up, that’s when it got hard. You were used to just doing it one

way and then the next session it would be different. You would have to think and I also

looked up in the corner to see the words to help me recognize what side or category the

picture went with. It is a great way to get you to think quick and it also makes you realize

what you’re looking at. Taking the quiz was an eye-opening moment for me on how we

are perceived to always categorize. Why is it that we have to make decisions and

categorize pictures? Why was there not one just for animals or humans? Why did they
have to categorize blacks and whites against each other? Honestly, for me, the pictures

were hard to differ who were blacks or whites. Why does it matter what color our skin is

or what our eyes look like? As a future teacher, I want my students to know that, it

doesn’t matter what color our skin just matters what is on the inside and that we all care

about one another.

 Resources

Kirwan Institue for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Kirwan Institute: Implicit Bias

Training Modules, kirwaninstitue.osu.edu/implicit-bias-training/.