Also known as unconscious or hidden bias, implicit biases are negative associations that people unknowingly hold. They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness. Many studies have indicated that implicit biases affect individuals’ attitudes and actions, thus creating real- world implications, even though individuals may not even be aware that those biases exist within themselves. Notably, implicit biases have been shown to trump individuals’ stated commitments to equality andfairness, thereby producing behavior that diverges from the explicit attitudes that many people profess. The ImplicitAssociation Test (IAT) is often used to measure implicit biases regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion and other topics.

Staats, C. (2013). State of the science implicit bias review (PDF). Retrieved from http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/docs/SOTS-Implicit_Bias.pdf.