Diversity learning · Foundation

Implicit Bias and the Implicit Association Test

Understand automatic associations, interpret an optional IAT cautiously, and practice decisions supported by evidence.

About 48 minutes, plus optional practice · 4 lessons · Voluntary learning

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All diversity courses: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced

Course outline

Automatic association is not the whole decision
Distinguish an automatic association from an endorsed belief and an action.
12 minutes
What the IAT can and cannot tell you
Explain the basic comparison made by an IAT.
12 minutes
Choose a private and voluntary reflection route
Compare the optional IAT route with a non-test alternative.
12 minutes
Build a decision habit and check its effect
Create a decision check that uses relevant criteria.
12 minutes

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What you’ll be able to do

Explore and practice

Distinguish an automatic association from an endorsed belief and an action.
Explain the basic comparison made by an IAT.
Compare the optional IAT route with a non-test alternative.
Create a decision check that uses relevant criteria.

What you can take into your work

Explain the distinctions in each knowledge check.
Compare the fictional case responses and their consequences.
Prepare and revisit the course job aid using a situation you choose.

Write a one-page decision record with purpose, criteria, evidence, missing information, and a reasoned conclusion. Test it on the fictional notice or a non-sensitive decision you are authorized to review. At the next use, check whether the record exposed an unsupported assumption. Revise the tool if it adds work without improving the reasoning.

Implicit Bias and the Implicit Association Test: practice guide

A reusable guide for a situation you choose

Understand automatic associations, interpret an optional IAT cautiously, and practice decisions supported by evidence.

Use observable details rather than assigning motives.
Invite perspectives without requiring personal disclosure.
Keep learning separate from individual assessment or personnel decisions.

Choose your learning route

Read the external site’s information and privacy terms before deciding whether to take an IAT.
You may skip the test and complete the fictional case with the same learning purpose.
Do not submit a score, screenshot, test history, or personal disclosure to this program, a supervisor, or a group.

Interpret cautiously

Separate automatic associations, consciously endorsed beliefs, and observable decisions.
Do not use a result to diagnose yourself, label a colleague, select personnel, or infer an IDI orientation.
A changed score is not proof of changed behavior; an unchanged score does not mean learning is impossible.

Improve a decision

Write the actual decision and relevant criteria before comparing people or options.
Identify what evidence supports each judgment and what is merely familiarity.
Invite a reasoned alternative explanation and check missing information consistently.
Review whether the process became more transparent and accurate, rather than tracking employees’ test results.

Try the guide and revisit it

Write a one-page decision record with purpose, criteria, evidence, missing information, and a reasoned conclusion. Test it on the fictional notice or a non-sensitive decision you are authorized to review. At the next use, check whether the record exposed an unsupported assumption. Revise the tool if it adds work without improving the reasoning.
Which repeated decision in your work could become more transparent? What result would convince you that the check helped rather than merely added a form?

Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.

Sources and further reading

Project Implicit — Frequently asked questions
Explains what the IAT measures, variation in results, and caution about individual interpretation.
Project Implicit — Ethical considerations
Read before choosing to participate in an external IAT; participation and any result remain voluntary.
Susan T. Fiske — Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping
Researcher-authored educational chapter distinguishing affect, beliefs, and behavior.

All research and sources across the program

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Course outline