Unconscious Bias and Implicit Association Test

The podcast episode discusses the concept of unconscious bias and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The hosts explain that unconscious bias refers to the implicit processes that occur in our brains and can lead to prejudice and discriminatory behavior. The IAT is a psychological test that measures implicit biases by assessing the speed of our responses to different stimuli. The hosts highlight that while the test can reveal associations between certain groups and positive or negative concepts, it does not necessarily indicate genuine prejudice or racism. They reference a meta-analysis that examined various studies on implicit and explicit prejudice and found distinct categories: implicit bias, explicit bias (measured through self-reporting), and behavioral bias (actual actions reflecting prejudice). However, measuring behavioral prejudice in experiments is challenging, leading to somewhat contrived measures in research settings.