Project Implicit (Harvard University)

Taking the Harvard's Implicit Bias Test on three separate occasions for a previous Howard University (HU) course, Alexandria City Public Schools and for an HU student-led activity, it was identified that I do not have a bias for either Black or White on each occasion. Though, knowing myself, I am well aware that if presented with this test over the course of my life, my inherent biases for Black people and our communities would be more evident.

As time has matured and I with it, I truly believe that - as an educator engaging various cultures and social identities - I have "learned" to be more aware of and (in some cases) learned to mask my biases. Or, rather, have learned to apply my biases based upon need and cultural relevance. Nonetheless, this is not to assume that I have "mastered" managing my biases. In fact, it may suggest the opposite.

This brings me to the following question: In an effort to manage our biases, can false neutrality prevent us from true, productive cultural responsiveness? If so, in what ways can this subject us, those we engage and others to forms of symbolic violence?

Have you taken an

implicit biases test?

Project Implicit Link: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Test Options Include: Skin-tone, Religion, Presidents, Transgender, Disability, Sexuality, Weight, Arab-Muslim, Gender-Career, Age, Weapons, Asian, Gender Science and Race Implicit Biases Association Tests.

Other Reflections

A Colleague's Reflection:

I recall taking Harvard’s Implicit Bias Test in [an HU course] last semester and my results were consistent, I have a strong automatic preference for African Americans over European Americans. Bias tests can expose one’s implicit attitudes, of which they are unaware. Overcoming unconscious bias helps create more equitable ways of managing schools, including how we work with students and families.

In my research, I like to find sources that are action-oriented and provide actionable steps that can be taken to support improvement. Cantu-Pawlik (2021), offers strategies to overcome implicit biases. We know that sometimes change is not an easy task and reducing unconscious attitudes does not differ. Cantu-Pawlik (2021) reports reducing unconscious attitudes is a permanent, long-term process that needs time and attention. She offers the following strategies to overcome implicit bias:

• Recognize stereotypical thinking

• Substitute assumptions and biases

• Get to know and understand individuals

• Explore new perspectives

• Be open to increasing opportunity for positive contact

“We need to acknowledge the limitations, to look for other tangible ways to reduce inequality, and to admit that our colleagues, friends, and ourselves might not just be implicitly biased, but might have explicitly racist and sexist tendencies. We should ask people to consciously recognize their prejudicial behavior and take responsibility for it” (Cantu-Pawlik, 2021).

My Response: You have included some very powerful quotes here. I love the emphasis on increasing opportunity for "positive contact" and taking responsibility for prejudicial behavior. It is often the case that, those who experience discomfort with exposed biases, become overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and somehow position themselves as a "victim" of their biases (i.e. "white" guilt) or become apologetic by engaging in superficial contact with those they [we] have othered.

When owning one's own biases (without shame or guilt), I believe that opportunities to have genuinely fruitful "positive contact" can influence ways to manage one's own biases and prejudicial behaviors.