Implicit Bias and Education: Retheorizing Antiracist Pedagogy

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Gender, and Sexual Diversity in Schools: Politics and Impact

Abstract

As measured by Harvard’s Implicit Associations Test, implicit bias is non-conscious linkages in declarative long-term memory. Theories of implicit bias point toward two sorts of mechanism: Reflective-Impulsive Models (RIM) explain these associations in terms of classic associationist principles; Associative-Propositional Evaluation (APE) models reference a propositional basis for implicit bias. Despite this ambiguity, the prevailing interpretations in education and in the broader political sphere are propositional. This is reflected in antiracist pedagogy which seeks to change hearts and minds, the problem being reduced to prejudicial ideas having been “driven underground,” out of conscious awareness (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1986). We introduce a complementary component to antiracist pedagogy to deal with the perception-action cycles through which bias is manifest in classroom practice.

Authors

• David Kirshner, Louisiana State University

• David Eller, Louisiana State University

• Chelsea Graves, Louisiana State University