Introduction
Implicit bias refers to unconscious beliefs, attitudes, or stereotypes that impact thoughts and behavior in an unconscious manner. Harvard’s Project Implicit offers perhaps the most straightforward definition of implicit bias as “thoughts and feelings that exist outside of conscious awareness or conscious control.” These biases, which comprise both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.
In a school environment, bias may affect both instructor – student interaction and student – student interactions. Assumptions that instructors hold about all students’ learning abilities and capability for academic success can influence how they facilitate discussions, grade assessments, evaluate performance, or interact – both verbally and nonverbally – with students. These behaviors, in turn, can affect student achievement, including course performance and success and career plans.
According to the Yale University Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, the following are examples of implicit bias:
- Instructors may assume that students from certain backgrounds or social groups have differing intellectual abilities and/or ambitions.
- Instructors may expect students who speak with certain accents to be poor writers.
- Students with substandard writing abilities may be stereotyped as lacking intellectual ability.
- Instructors might treat students with physical disabilities as if they may also have mental disabilities and thus require more attention.
- Students who are affiliated with a particular group may be treated as experts on issues related to that group.
- Students of certain groups may be expected to have certain participation styles (quiet or argumentative).
Ways to Mitigate Implicit Bias
The following are suggestions, gleaned from several sources, for mitigating the expression of implicit bias in classes:
- Engage in reflective teaching practice, which might take the form of an informal teaching journal in which instructors briefly jot notes after each class session or conversations with colleagues about shared classroom challenges and strategies.
- Make implicit biases explicit so they can intentionally be addressed. For example, instructors can take an Implicit Association Test (IAT), so they are aware of their biases and can better regulate these biases in the classroom.
- Gather feedback from students that specifically asks about their experience of the classroom climate. This could take the form of a formal mid-term assessment or briefer “minute papers” at the end of class sessions.
- Ask a colleague to observe teaching and gather data about matters such as student participation or language used when responding to student contributions. Such data can help instructors become aware of behaviors or patterns they are unlikely to notice on their own.
- Grade papers and tests without knowing the students’ identity to eliminate the cues for implicit bias.
- Use transparent and clearly defined grading protocols (e.g., grading papers with rubrics that are distributed to students in advance) to provide structures to mitigate bias.
- Show the diversity of contributors to the field (e.g., assign readings by a wide range of authors).
- Create structures for more equitable participation in the classroom activities, especially in planning and implementing pair, team, and group experiences ((e.g., have clearly defined roles for group members).
- Use discussion participation formats that create equal opportunities for all to ask or answer questions rather than simply calling upon students in response to a raised hand. In a small class, an effective strategy is to go around the room. In a larger class, instructors might ask all students to briefly prepare a response in writing and then use a class roster to call upon students randomly and keep track of who has been called upon from class to class.
- Get to know students as individuals, preferably in office hours. This can help correct any inaccurate assumptions instructors have made and help ensure instructors are responding to students’ particular learning needs.
Sources
Awareness of Implicit Biases
Yale University Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning
Strategies and Resources About Implicit Bias
Brown University Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning
Assessing and Addressing Our Biases
University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Blog
Grading and Feedback
Carnegie Mellon University Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation
Unconscious Bias
University of California Office of Diversity and Outreach
Principle 5: Reflect on one’s beliefs about teaching to maximize self-awareness and commitment to inclusion. Columbia University Center for Teaching and Learning
Implicit Bias
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Teaching & Learning Lab
DePaul University Teaching Commons
Additional Resources
Project Implicit
Harvard University Project Implicit
This site provides information about and access to the Implicit Association Test.
Unconscious Bias Resources
University of California/San Francisco Office of Diversity and Outreach
This site provides resources on dealing with unconscious bias.
Getting Explicit About Implicit Bias
Duke Law School Bolch Judicial Institute
This article describes the effects of implicit bias on judges’ behaviors and makes suggestions for mitigating these effects.
Implicit Bias
University of California/Los Angeles Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
This site provides another series of short videos on implicit bias.
Interactive Webinars
Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden has presented the following interactive webinars:
Culturally Responsive Mentoring
Diversity Flashpoints in the Classroom
Implicit Bias: What It Is and How to Interrupt It