Tweeting Hidden Bias

What do we make of tweets that are racist, sexist, or perhaps homophobic?  Are these people ignorant?  Are they simply “blowing off steam,” without thinking of the consequences?  Or might they be signs of hidden bias, bias that typically remains hidden and is buried beneath our consciousness?  In recent weeks, racist tweets have been directed at a movie, The Hunger Games, and the only black player on the the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Some would argue that these individuals are not racist, rather, they are simply venting without really thinking about what they are saying.  Isn’t that the definition of hidden bias?  For those of you who are not aware of the concept hidden or implicit bias, you might want to access the Implicit Association Test (IAT) dealing with race – the Race IAT (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ )  The idea behind this test is this.  When you see pictures of people of different races, do you tend to associate positive images with one race and negative images with another.  In other words, do you make certain negative assumptions about people simply based on the color of their skin?  The test is timed, so that you do not have much time to dwell on your answer.  Rather, it is spontaneous.

Aren’t many tweets like this?  In a moment of anger, we tweet away.  Or after we have drunk one too many and relax, we tweet something that we later regret.  Or maybe, these words and images are just so imbedded in our psyche that we don’t even think about it, especially if we are not in a formal setting.

While some would write off these racist, sexist, and homophobic tweets to stupidity, insecurity, or immaturity, it is more likely that hidden bias is at work.  Maybe these tweets are more reflective of how some people really think and feel.

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One Response to Tweeting Hidden Bias

  1. Mary says:

    When individuals are drunk they tend to be more bias. They say things that have been on their mind for a long time and use being drunk as their excuse. I agree with your post, most people display hidden bias.

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