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What is Implicit Bias?

Barbara Kaiser, MA

March 12, 2021

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What is implicit bias?

Answer

Implicit bias is the automatic and unconscious stereotypes that drive people to behave and make decisions in certain ways. It is based on learned associations between various qualities and social characteristics and categories, such as race, gender, ethnicity, age, and appearance. It encompasses both favorable and unfavorable assessments. Sometimes our implicit bias is that we think certain cultures or the way certain people look or the way certain people talk makes them something they might not be. For example, my husband is British and I always thought that people with British accents were smarter than anybody else. It does not always have to be negative.

It is activated involuntarily and without an individual's awareness or intentional control. We need to become more aware. Implicit bias develops at a very early age through exposure to direct and indirect messages. Many people consider themselves non-judgmental, but as an educator, we see children's play, their behavior, whether aggressive or compliant, their initiative, and even their ability as a result of our own implicit bias. In addition to early life experiences, the media and news programming are often-cited origins of implicit associations.

Children have the right to grow up in environments where differences are expected and respected and this does not mean that you are not seeing differences. It means understanding and appreciating them.

This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Opening the Culture Door: Valuing Diversitypresented by Barbara Kaiser, MA.


barbara kaiser

Barbara Kaiser, MA

Barbara Kaiser is a graduate of McGill University’s Master's Program in Educational Administration and has been working with early childhood educators, children, and their families for over 35 years. She is the co-author of Challenging Behavior in Young Children: Understanding, Preventing and Responding Effectively, 4th Edition (2017), and is presently working on a new text, The Administrator’s Role in Supporting Staff, Children, and Families When Challenging Behavior Occurs, (NAEYC), which is expected to be available early winter 2021. She has taught part-time in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec and Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

In addition to presenting workshops and keynote speeches on the topic of challenging behavior and related issues in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and Mauritius, Barbara was the chief consultant for Addressing Youth Violence: An Intersectoral, Integrated Approach for Western Nova Scotia, and designed a webinar series and guide to help teachers and administrators reduce and respond to bullying behavior for the Nova Scotia Department of Education. She also helped to develop teacher training video programs focused on managing children’s challenging behavior, Challenging Behaviors: Where do we begin? with Family Communications Inc. and Facing the Challenge, with Devereux Center for Resilient Children, (DCRC). Recently she has been presenting webinars and articles to support teachers, children, and their families when returning to school and childcare after COVID19.


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