Tony Greenwald is highlighted in this UW Columns article about the development of the implicit association test.
The man who made us look
Psychology professor Anthony Greenwald developed the Implicit Association Test, a rapid-fire survey that reveals the biases that lurk inside us. Twenty years later, the test remains relevant—and world-famous.
STORY BY JULIE GARNER
Tony Greenwald ’s office in Guthrie Hall is a welcome refuge on one of those winter days when cold rain pours from the skies: cozy with books and papers, and walls covered with images of jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.
Greenwald is a professor of psychology who is world-famous for his work on implicit bias and the development of the Implicit Association Test . What is implicit bias, you ask? It’s bias that can influence your behavior without your awareness.
Surprising findings of his research, he observes, are “that women show male-favoring implicit biases even more strongly than do men, and preference for racial white is shared by a surprising 80 percent of white Americans.”
When I tell him, “I feel like there is someone inside me who possesses attitudes I reject. Those attitudes probably affect my behavior and how I treat people in ways I’m not aware of.” With a genial smile, he says, “That’s a good description.”
Read the entire article here .