Implicit Association Bias

Implicit association bias refers to associations that lie outside conscious attentional focus and may or may not be disassociated from explicit associations that are under conscious attentional control. To illustrate, an individual who does not consciously, explicitly endorse an association between Blacks and crime, for example, may nonetheless harbor a nonconscious, implicit association bias whereby they, in fact, associated Blacks with crime. This would be an example of the way in which implicit and explicit associations can differ. Conversely, explicit and implicit association biases can be in sync with one another, as research has demonstrated this to be the case among those holding strongly prejudicial explicit attitudes.

The term bias is a relative one and does not necessarily connote an erroneous, irrational, or imprudent association. For ...