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.”
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