Implicit Stereotype

An implicit stereotype, also called an implicit bias or unconscious bias, is the pre-reflective attribution of particular qualities by an individual to a member of a social out-group, arising from a natural human tendency to divide the social world into groups. Implicit stereotypes are thought to form through experience, built from learned associations between particular qualities and social categories such as race or gender, and they can shape a person's perceptions and behavior even when that person is unaware of holding them; the phenomenon is part of the broader field of implicit social cognition, describing how perceptions, attitudes and stereotypes can operate before conscious intention or endorsement. The psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald first defined the term in 1995, and its effects are documented in contexts including judgments of fame and hiring decisions; implicit stereotypes differ from explicit stereotypes, which are consciously endorsed and at least somewhat controllable, and organizations have adopted strategies such as blind recruitment, standardized evaluation criteria and structured interviews to try to reduce their influence, though the long-term effectiveness of dedicated implicit-bias training remains debated.