Social Psychologists have made a distinction between "implicit" and "explicit" attitudes. An explicit attitude is the kind that you deliberately think about and report. Implicit attitudes are positive and negative evaluations that occur outside of conscious awareness and control. For example, even if you say that you like math (your explicit attitude), it is possible that you associate math with negativity without knowing it. In this case, your implicit attitude toward math would be negative. In order to study sensitive attitudes (such as attitudes about different racial groups) researchers measure implicit attitudes.
This research is more likely to uncover biases toward different groups, compared to asking people to declare their explicit attitudes. To get a better understanding of the method for assessing implicit attitudes, please visit the Project Implicit Social Attitudes portion of the Project Implicit site at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Please note that you will also be asked to visit the above site to complete Homework 2, so this discussion assignment will help you with that. Homework 2 asks you to visit the Project Implicit site and select an area (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation, age) about which you believe yourself to be unbiased or non-prejudiced.
Then, explore your implicit associations in that area. You are asked to compare your explicit attitudes to your implicit attitudes and consider whether there any differences in the attitudes you consciously hold and the implicit associations you hold.
After completing this task, you should have a clear understanding of the method used to measure implicit attitudes. Now, consider a case where a person consciously believes they hold no prejudices toward persons of a different race (their explicit attitude is unbiased) BUT when their implicit attitudes toward the different racial group are measured, they show unconscious biases. Would you consider this person to be prejudiced toward members of the different racial group? Why or why not?
Initial Post Requirements: Give a brief report of your results on the Implicit Attitudes Test. Which area did you choose to explore and did your results surprise you? Why or why not? Pick a side arguing whether or not a person who holds unbiased explicit attitudes toward members of a different social group, but biased implicit attitudes, should be considered prejudiced. Also state your opinion as to whether explicit or implicit attitudes are more important, or if they are equally important. Give at least 3 valid and well-explained reasons for your opinions. You may include examples to support your position.