Epistemology of Implicit Bias

Association

• An important part of how the human mind (or any mind like ours) works is by responding to environmental regularities.
• These regularities are encoded automatically, and retrieved automatically to help guide thought and action.
• If we didn't do this, we would die.

Stereotypes

• One form of automatic association is the way we stereotype people in order to help navigate the social world.
• The tendency to stereotype arises very early and without explicit training.
• Moreover, many stereotypes are unconscious and activated automatically.

Aliefs

• According to Tamar Gendler, stereotypes are an instance of what she calls aliefs -- arational, automatic, affect-laden associations that influence our thoughts and actions in many ways.
• These can co-exist with conflicting beliefs that are thoroughly egalitarian.
• Lots of aliefs are very useful, but some can be dangerous in various ways.

Some Epistemic Costs of Implicit Biases

• Differences in how same-race vs. other-race (and in-group vs. out-group) faces are encoded and recognized.
• Effects of stereotype threat in the performance of various tasks.
• Cognitive depletion by interracial interaction.

But what can we do to avoid these problems?