College Students and Implicit Bias Tests

Implicit bias is an important concept in society as it relates to how we treat or perceive others. Implicit bias is when there is an unconscious bias towards someone or something for a certain reason. This is important for a person to be aware of so that they can work towards treat or acknowledging things fairly. It is possible for cognitive dissonance to interfere with a person’s awareness due to the lack of exposure to implicit bias. The purpose of this study was to examine college students’ responses towards being told whether they have an implicit bias or not in order to show if there is a cognitive dissonance or not. Participants took a survey that seemed like an implicit bias test and received results about whether they have an implicit bias or not randomly. After they received this “result”, they then took a response survey to evaluate their emotional responses towards the result. Afterwards, participants were given a debriefing form to inform them that the result they received was not an official result and was not accurate in anyway at all. Data is ongoing and will be presented via poster. Keywords: implicit bias, college students, deception, implicit bias test