Presented by Evelyn Carter with Commune
Tags: attitude object, explicit attitude, implicit attitude, implicit bias
“Our attitudes are based on the collective input of past experience and subconscious association, and if we aren’t careful, they can create mental monoliths of entire communities and cultures.”
Attitude
- A positive or negative evaluation of any “attitude object”
- Attitude object: a noun – person, place or thing
- A thumbs up or thumbs down response towards any attitude object
- Implicit attitude: our automatic (in the moment) associations
- Our brain brings up associations and experiences that we’ve had in our past to figure out how to feel and response to the attitude objects around us (search and retrieval process happens in split seconds)
- Shape our perception, judgement and nonverbal behaviour (e.g., body language, tone of voice, facial expression)
- Can be measured through:
- Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- Word-Fragment Completion Tasks
- Physical distance
- Explicit attitude: consciously stated beliefs we hold; can be identified through self-reflection and self-report
- Incorporates social norms and personal beliefs
- “Conscious control filters”
- Influences verbal behaviour (what you say)
- When there’s little reason to engage a filter, our implicitly and explicitly measured attitudes are fairly similar
- They can differ based on sensitive topics and strong social norms
- Implicit bias: a preference for or against people based on their social identity
Resources to learn more:
Implicit Attitudes Can Change over the Long Term
The subtlety of White racisms, arousal, and helping behaviour (study)
Learn more from Evelyn:
Techniques for Reducing Bias (Part 4)
More from Commune
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