Implicit Biases: A Reflective Report

Implicit biases have been shown to effect discrimination in medical treatment, hiring, job promotions, and criminal justice decisions. As a medical professional, knowing one's biases is important so that they do not affect the quality of a client's treatment. Though it is important to address implicit biases, it can be difficult to identify one's biases because they are subtly presented through behavior in our daily lives. Project Implicit offers evaluations that measure the strengths of association between two concepts. The results from the evaluations can help provide an insight into one's implicit biases.
Before taking the evaluations I was very skeptical of how they could possibly identify biases that I possess. I was also doubtful of how accurate, reliable, and valid the evaluations could be. Before taking the evaluations I took a few moments to consider what implicit biases and attitudes I have. I am aware that I have biases, but feel that do my best to treat others equally. I feel that I have biases associated with gender and the roles that males and females should fulfill. I also feel that I have a preference for

While thinking about this evaluation beforehand I predicted that I would have a preference for European Americans because of my background in a small town with very little diversity. My results from this evaluation revealed that I do have a possible moderate automatic preference of European Americans. After viewing my results, I considered the fact that people typically have preferences for things and people that they are familiar with. My preference for what is familiar is the product of growing up in a small town with a lack of diversity. In the future, I will use these results to address this possible bias by making sure that I am treating all individuals equally and monitor micro-aggressions that I may incidentally engage