Neuroscience discussion of implicit bias and race without actionable leads

even when subjects respond to names commonly associated with Caucasian and Black people. A quick skim through the many blogs commenting on this work reveals a common refrain that makes the key point: many that have taken this test, whether focusing on race, sexual orientation, or political affiliation, opine that the test must be invalid because they explicitly disavow any groupish biases. But that’s the point! What we disavow explicitly has less impact than we would like on what we hold implicitly. If our implicit system champions one view of racism and our explicit system another, then we are continuously faced with an epic conflict. To resolve this conflict, and enable the explicit system to emerge triumphant, requires self-control, keeping the implicit system quiet. Studies of the brain provide interesting insights into this process. Recall that when we experience conflict, regardless of its content, there is activation in the anterior cingulate. When we exert self-control, regardless of content, there is activation in particular regions within the prefrontal cortex. When we feel threatened by a dangerous animal or person, there is activation in the amygdala. These three brain regions tell an interesting story about how we process race. When Caucasian subjects view faces of Black as opposed to Caucasian people staring at them, there is greater activation in the amygdala. This racial difference disappears if subjects view photos of faces looking away or with eyes closed. It is the potentially threatening aspect of a face staring at you that engages the racial difference. If you briefly flash faces at Caucasian subjects so that they are unaware of them, there is stronger activation in the amygdala for Black than Caucasian faces. But if you present the faces for long enough, allowing them to enter conscious awareness, the amyegdala’s pattern of activity goes away, replaced instead by strong activation in the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex. Staring longer at someone from a different race triggers a sense of conflict and engages the system of self-control, pushing down our implicit racism to enable more explicit neutrality and equality. What this work shows is that understanding our attitudes and actions toward those of the same and different race requires consideration of implicit and explicit components. Think of this process like a hand pushing down on an automatic watering fountain. The machinery that produces the pressure to push water out of the holes in the fountain operates without concern for what happens outside in the world. The hand that pushes down is under human control, consciously guided, perhaps with the aim of simply spreading the water or feeling its’ coolness on a hot day. Though the hand may try to control the movement of the water, it may only do so to some extent, guided by the power of the automatic engine below. Thus, we have an automatic bottom up mechanism and a controlled top down mechanism. So it is with race. The bottom up mechanism operates automatically, pushing forward our implicit prejudice. The top down mechanism attempts to exert control, when and where it can, to avoid looking racist, sexist, or what have you. Somewhere, the two meet, creating a personality profile that is more explicitly racist, Hauser Chapter 3. Ravages of denial 99 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012845