1. Background
According to the Implicit Project, people have two kinds of attitudes. They are explicit and implicit. Implicit attitudes and believes are those which people are either unwilling or unable to reveal. The goal of the Implicit Project is to determine person’s implicit attitudes.
The Implicit Project measures people’s attitudes and beliefs, which they do not want to report or about having which they do not even know. Thus, it measures the associations people make between concepts and stereotypes or evaluations.
The project uses the following definition of prejudice. The word prejudice is used to describe people who have negative attitudes toward people of other groups.
An attitude is a person’s assessment of some concept. An explicit attitude is a deliberately thought about and reported attitude, as opposed to the implicit attitude that is either positive or negative and one which cannot be consciously controlled. Hence, the implicit stereotype is a belief that cannot be consciously controlled and comes outside of conscious awareness.
As it has already been mentioned, an explicit attitude is an attitude that a person deliberately thinks about and reports. The Implicit Project provides the example with Math in order to explain this kind of attitude. If the person is asked whether he/she likes Math, he/she will report the explicit attitude.
2. My Experience
I have taken two Implicit Association Tests. One of them is Race Test, another one is Weight IAT. My choice of the second test is connected with my personal concern about the weight and my strong desire to get to know the implicit attitude toward this issue.
Speaking about the results of the first test, they were not surprising for me. I think that my explicit and implicit attitudes coincide in this relation. Nevertheless, regarding the second test, I should say, that I did not expect such an outcome. However, I am glad to have taken this test, as from now on I will pay more attention to this problem and will try to concentrate more attention on it.
The implicit bias plays very important role nowadays, not only in the civil right issues but also in other aspect of person’s life. Because of this bias people may challenge unfair decisions and even be intentionally discriminated. In fact, implicit bias represents itself in all kinds of discrimination today. That is why it is very important for people to understand the peculiarities of the work of brain and to try to find ways to get rid of these biases, because it is the only key to a fair and prosper society ("Implicit Bias" n.p.).
Implicit bias may reveal itself in racism issues. Some employers have implicit stereotype related to African Americans, as they are often associated with high rates of crime. However, it is not right, as all citizens are guaranteed equal protection. This bias may refer not only to race, but also to gender, religion, age, disability, voting rights and administration of Justice. The latest one may have extremely detrimental effects on people who are biased.
Very often, the juries have the implicit bias toward the criminal defendants because of many reasons. These reasons may be culture, race, gender and others. If the juries bring the verdict of guilty based on this bias, the person may be affected not rightfully.
As a solution to this issue, the juries may take the Implicit Association Test in order to reveal their hidden and unconscious beliefs, ideas, attitudes and prejudices.
Works Cited
"Project Implicit". Implicit.harvard.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 May 2016.
"Implicit Bias". Equal Justice Society. N.p., 2011. Web. 14 May 2016.
