Ethnicité et race. Séminaire MIM. Séance 9

Linda Hamilton Krieger (Professor of Law, University of California at Berkeley and University of Hawaii) 

Research Advances on the Psychology of Implicit Bias: Implications for Anti-discrimination Law and Policy 

Most people think of direct discrimination as resulting from the application of consciously endorsed, prejudiced beliefs and attitudes towards members of negatively stereotyped groups. Viewing the phenomenon of direct discrimination in this way leads us to make certain assumptions about how such discrimination occurs, how it can be prevented ex ante, and how it can be identified ex post. Specifically, we generally assume that decision makers know when they are discriminating against members of negatively stereotyped groups, and that discrimination, when it happens, occurs during the decision making process itself. These assumptions, in turn, lead us to believe that the anti-discrimination principle, understood as a norm of "category-blindness", or as a prescription against thinking about category membership during a social decision making process, can function effectively as a normative rule.

However, forty years of empirical research in cognitive social psychology demonstrates that direct discrimination can also result from implicit - that is to say, spontaneous and non-conscious - processes of social perception and judgment that occur outside of our conscious attentional focus. Specifically, this body of research demonstrates that social stereotypes, absorbed from the surrounding social environment, can cause even well-intentioned people, who have consciously rejected prejudiced beliefs, to discriminate against members of negatively stereotyped groups. It reveals that, unless consciously corrected, implicit stereotypes tend to systematically bias our perceptions of and judgments about members of stereotyped groups. Most importantly this research suggests that, unless decision makers have the motivation, knowledge, and cognitive resources available to neutralize the effects of implicit stereotypes on their judgments of stereotyped others, they may discriminate without even realizing they are doing so. When implicit forms of discrimination are taken into account, it becomes clear the "colorblindness" principle, while noble in theory, can not as a practical matter function effectively as a normative rule, let alone as the foundation for antidiscrimination law and policy.

In her presentation, Professor Krieger will summarize this body of research, and explore its implications for the struggle against discrimination in employment, housing, and education.