BUSM4550 Critical Analysis to Explore Conscious and Subconscious Biases Through the IAT

Literature to evaluate the concept of unconscious bias

Implicit bias is a growing area of importance in educators and researchers. The implicit biases are those which includes attitudes that are based on experiences and activities, that are not known to an individual (Sukhera et al. 2019:1). Additionally, implicit bias is also explained as an unconscious, unintentional mental association people have towards a social group (ethnicity, gender, status, etc.) and it is similar to cognitive bias (Gonzalez et al. 2021:1).  Furthermore, Implicit bias theory explains that individuals may have unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that influence their judgments and behaviors, even if they are not consciously aware of these biases. This theory also supports use of IAT test to measure implicit biases (Casad et al. 2013). Similarly, social cognitive theory explains that implicit bias is influenced by early social experiences and past experiences. Also, social interactions affects the learning process of the individuals (Degner and Calanchini 2020).

Research on cognitive and social studies has revealed that people have explicit and implicit behaviour, which is based on cognition. Where, explicit cognition relies on self-report to access mental content or self-awareness. Whereas, measures of implicit cognition rely on less controllable behaviours, such as response beliefs or other responses that bypass conscious awareness (Kurdi et al. 2019:2). The IAT test is a critical tool developed by a group of psychologists to measure implicit biases and gender differences. Studies claim that implicit bias is an important factor contributing to gender difference biases and gaps (Young and Kindzierski 2024).

Reflection on the IAT test and key learnings

As a part of my course (BUSM4550), I was supposed to take the Implicit Association Test (IAT). This activity was fun, engaging, and thought-provoking. According to (Casad et al. 2013:119), when individuals/students take IAT, it helps them to discover their implicit biases, conflicting with their explicit beliefs. This helps to have a deeper understanding of the unconscious mind and attitude. Similarly, the results of my IAT test have provided valuable insights about my subconscious perceptions, beliefs, and biases.

This new self-awareness compelled me to reflect in these biases and how they must be affecting my perceptions and behaviours towards others (Casad et al. 2013:118; Gonzalez et al. 2021:2). Therefore, this test is very useful for students and teachers, (Casad et al. 2013:119), where teachers can incorporate the IAT tests as a classroom activity to make students confront their implicit biases and enhance the self-awareness process. The idea is that after conducting this individual activity, we will discuss this in class, to enhance class creativity and engagement.

To perform this test, I took two tasks, which were: Gender-career, and Gender-science. Each test took 10 minutes, and the results are presented below: