Evidence of Covariation Between Regional Implicit Bias and Socially Significant Outcomes in Healthcare, Education, and Law Enforcement

When viewing the state of the world today, social and behavioral scientists face a puzzling inconsistency: how can it be that evidence of discrimination persists in all significant aspects of life – from housing and jobs to healthcare and law enforcement – even though individuals and institutions adamantly stand for equality? Over the past two decades, research has demonstrated that at least part of the answer to this puzzle can be attributed to the implicit nature of biases – attitudes, beliefs, and identities that are less conscious and controllable but that nevertheless exist and shape behavior. Today, it is taken as a given that evidence is strong and substantial for the presence of implicit bias in the minds and behaviors of individuals. This chapter, however, reviews an emerging body of research that uses large-scale, aggregated data across millions of tests of implicit attitudes and beliefs to understand outcomes of socially significant systemic behaviors ranging from the police use of lethal force to infant healthcare to school suspensions and discipline. Methodologically, the studies quantify social and psychological processes acting in the real world and introduce data of unprecedented scope across geography and time. Theoretically, both the approach and findings of this research underscore a new meaning of the term systemic discrimination that recognizes how implicit bias both shapes and is shaped by broad structural systems and outcomes.