The Science of Implicit Race Bias: Evidence from the Implicit Association Test

Abstract

Abstract Beginning in the mid-1980s, scientific psychology underwent a revolution – the implicit revolution – that led to the development of methods to capture implicit bias: attitudes, stereotypes, and identities that operate without full conscious awareness or conscious control. This essay focuses on a single notable thread of discoveries from the Race Attitude Implicit Association Test (RA-IAT) by providing 1) the historical origins of the research, 2) signature and replicated empirical results for construct validation, 3) further validation from research in sociocognitive development, neuroscience, and computer science, 4) new validation from robust association between regional levels of race bias and socially significant outcomes, and 5) evidence for both short- and long-term attitude change. As such, the essay provides the first comprehensive repository of research on implicit race bias using the RA-IAT. Together, the evidence lays bare the hollowness of current-day actions to rectify disadvantage experienced by Black Americans at individual, institutional, and societal levels.