Smithsonian The Bias Inside Us Exhibit

The Bias Inside Us is grounded in decades of scientific research and educational work by psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji of Harvard University and Anthony G. Greenwald, professor emeritus at the University of Washington. They defined “implicit bias” through their work on unconscious and conscious mental processes. Their book Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People explores the biases people carry based on their exposure to cultural attitudes in areas such as gender, race, social class, and disability status.  The scientific research materials shown below formed the basis for what is discussed in the exhibition.

Accessible overview of social categories
Liberman, Z., Woodward, A. L., & Kinzler, K. D. | (2017) The Origins of Social Categorization. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(7), 556–568
View Research

Ambient Belonging: How Stereotypical Cues Impact Gender Participation in Computer Science
Sapna Cheryan, University of Washington; Victoria C. Plaut, University of Georgia; Paul G. Davies, University of British Columbia, Okanagan; Claude M. Steele, Stanford University | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2009 American Psychological Association 2009, Vol. 97, No. 6, 1045–1060
View Research

Gender in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Issues, Causes, Solutions
Tessa E.S. Charlesworth and Mahzarin R. Banaji | Journal of Neuroscience 11 September 2019
View Research

Language-based biases
Kinzler, K. D., Shutts, K., DeJesus, J., & Spelke, E. S. | (2009) Accent Trumps Race in Guiding Children’s Social Preferences. Social Cognition, 27(4), 623–634
View Research

National differences in gender-science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement
Nosek et al., 2009, PNAS
View Research

Out-group "hate" arrives around age 6
Buttelmann, D., & Böhm, R. | (2014) The Ontogeny of the Motivation That Underlies In-Group Bias. Psychological Science, 25(4), 921–927
View Research

Outsmarting Human Minds
A Project at Harvard University (OHM) is a media series that explores the quirks and blindspots of the mind using insights from psychological science
View Research

Racial disparities in school-based disciplinary actions are associated with county-level rates of racial bias
Travis Riddle and Stacey Sinclair | PNAS April 23, 2019 116 (17) 8255-8260; first published April 2, 2019
View Research

The native language of social cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Kinzler, K. D., Dupoux, E., & Spelke, E. S. | (2007) 104(30), 12577–12580
View Research 

The School-to-Prison Pipeline:  Policies and practices that favor incarceration over education do us all a grave injustice
Marilyn Elias | Teaching Tolerance Magazine ISSUE 43, SPRING 2013
View Research  

Understanding Implicit Bias: What Educators Should Know
Cheryl Staats | American Educator, Vol. 39, No. 4, Winter 20
View Research

Additional research about bias that are not represented in the exhibition, courtesy of Harvard University Department of Psychology

Ageism
Negative perceptions of aging are widespread: Levy, B. R., & Banaji, M. R. (2002). Implicit Ageism. In T. D. Nelson (Ed.), Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice against Older Persons. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Retrieved from
View Research

Negative perceptions of aging have profound personal consequences. People who have positive perceptions of aging live 7.5 years longer than those with negative perceptions of aging, revealing how powerful the internalized stigmas can be! Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Kunkel, S. R., & Kasl, S. V. (2002). Longevity Increased by Positive Self- Perceptions of Aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(2), 261–270.
View Research

Persons with Physical Disabilities
Negative implicit bias against physical disability: Dovidio, J. F., Pagotto, L., & Hebl, M. R. (2011). Implicit attitudes and discrimination against people with physical disabilities. In Disability and Aging Discrimination: Perspectives in Law and Psychology (pp. 157–183).
View Research

Stereotypes typically focus on incompetence: Rohmer, O., & Louvet, E. (2016). Implicit stereotyping against people with disability. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 21(1), 127–140.
View Research

Socioeconomic Differences
Typically, people in poverty are seen with "mixed" stereotypes of being "warm" but also incompetent/weak: Fiske, S. T. (2018). Stereotype Content: Warmth and Competence Endure. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1–7.
View Research

Children from 3 years of age associate White with wealth (and Black people with poverty), indicating an early understanding of the racial stereotypes of wealth: Olson, K. R., Shutts, K., Kinzler, K. D., & Weisman, K. G. (2012). Children Associate Racial Groups With Wealth: Evidence From South Africa. Child Development, 83(6), 1884–1899.
View Research 

Black children at 7-11 years of age who show a preference for wealth also show an implicit preference for White (i.e., for their outgroup): Newheiser, A. K., & Olson, K. R. (2012). White and Black American children’s implicit intergroup bias. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 264–270.
View Research

There is also a strong implicit rich-good/poor-bad attitude throughout the US (in fact, it's stronger than biases about ability, body weight, age, race, etc.): Nosek, B. A. (2005). Moderators of the relationship between implicit and explicit evaluation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134(4), 565–584.
View Research