Implicit Bias: A Reflective Essay on Gender and Social Constructs

This reflective essay delves into the concept of implicit bias, exploring how unconscious attitudes and beliefs shape perceptions, particularly concerning gender. The essay begins by defining implicit bias and its formation, emphasizing its unconscious nature and the influence of individual experiences, culture, and upbringing. It then discusses the Implicit Association Test (IAT) results, revealing a moderate association of males with science and females with humanities, and interprets these findings through the lens of various social theories, including social dominance theory, social categorization theory, status construction theory, and social identity theory. The essay compares the test results with other research, such as the Lean In article, highlighting gender disparities and the influence of attitudes and beliefs on interactions. The author reflects on how their own unconscious biases have evolved after analyzing the test results and other research, concluding that reflection is a valuable tool for understanding one's knowledge and perspectives on gender and societal constructs. The essay provides a comprehensive analysis of implicit bias and its impact on individual perceptions and societal views.

TASK 1: REFLECTIVE
ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

MAIN BODY
Implicit bias and how they form
Implicit bias refers to an unconscious set of association relating to a particular social
group. It can also be defined as the unconscious attitude and beliefs that is the attitude which the
person forms relating for another person or thing without its conscious mind is referred to as
implicit bias (Dean, Harwood and Kasari, 2017). In this situation I automatically form a belief or
attitude towards the another person or any other situation by my way of thinking and how I
perceive things and other situation in relation to what other thinks. The implicit biasses only
operates at an unconscious mind level and are not in control of the individual perceiving things.
The implicit bias in me forms because of the reason that my mind operates in the way
how I think and not by taking into consideration what other people think. My mind operates in a
way what I want and not what others think of me (Loomes, Hull and Mandy, 2017). It works by
looking for different tendencies to look for different patterns and associate them with the other
aspects of the situation. This is influenced by the ability of the person that how it store and
process the information relating to the situation.
Another reason underlying the formation of implicit bias in me is influenced by what I
experience, what is the culture where I live, the upbringing of my life, my family background
and many other related factors.
The theories of implicit bias is automatic theory which states that whether the person
thinks or not they automatically creates a implicit bias relating to any other person or any
situation (How does implicit bias influence behaviour? 2019). It is because of the reason that
whether the person is in it conscious or sub- conscious mind he will definitely build a bias
regarding that particular person.
Results of IAT

From the results
is a moderate association of male with science and female with humanities as compared to
female with science and male with humanities. Within this test results I learnt many various
kinds of aspects on which the test can be conducted. Within this test there were four categories
that is male, female, science and humanities and along with this some areas which comes under
these four categories. The aim of the test was to group these areas under the category they belong
to. The reason underlying these grouping is that to outline the relation between these categories
and the things covered under these categories (Kautzky - Willer, Harreiter and Pacini, 2016).

As a result of the test it was highlighted that there is a more link between males and
science as compared to male with humanities. On the other hand there is moderate link of
females with humanities as compared with females and science.
Theories for interpreting the results
The implicit bias can be studied with the help of the social dominance theory. This theory
relates to the relation within the group which focuses on the maintaining of the relation between
the different genders of the group. This theory states that there must not be any dominance of any
of the gender whether male or female and also there must not be any dominance on basis of
hierarchies followed within the group. The dominance theory states that it is not correct fact that
the males dominate the science field and females dominates the humanities field. But according
to me the test results many things have been changed and the principle that men have more
power and status in comparison with the females have become old and now women have similar
position as compared to the men (Jansen, Schroeders and Lüdtke, 2014).
Another theory is the social categorisation theory which is used to interpret the results of
the test. Social categorisation theory refers to as a process of classifying the different people into
different types of groups based on some common attributes or the characteristics. In the test I
learnt that this theory is applicable due to the reason that it is necessary to categorise some
common things into one head. For instance all the subjects coming under humanities must be
grouped under the category of humanities. In contrast, all the subjects relating to science must be
grouped under science section. the theory was helpful because of the reason that the test was
only about categorising different things under different headings like male, female and there link
with science and humanities (Antonetti and Maklan, 2015).
Next theory applicable is status construction theory. It is because of the reason that this
theory states how structural conditions among the people within the society hampers the working
of different social groups based on gender, ethnic, racial and many other related things. With the
results of the test I was able to see that there are some structural condition made for males and
females which are still followed in this modern era. For instance in this modern time also there is
a myth that women cannot be included in the management of the board members within a
corporate world. But after the test I realised that this is not true and women must be included in
the management of the company within the corporate world. It is necessary to foster these

structural conditions because these conditions develops some beliefs relating to the difference
between the male and female (Rost and Seidl, 2019).
The another theory applicable on this test is the social identity theory. This theory has
three different components which are social categorisation, social identification and social
comparison (Mielke, Vemuri and Rocca, 2014). This theory also states that how the social
identity of a person influences its inter group behaviour. But with the results of the test o learnt
that the females are not much popular in the categories of the society and these are to be uplifted
in the social level. I think this is because of the reason that this theory promotes the cognitive
process which defines the membership within the group and what are the motivational social
identity which positively impacts the identity of a male or female within the group.
Comparison with other research
In the same way many other researches have been done relating to gender and similar
things. One of the article relating to sex/ gender states that the population of the world is
approximately 50 % men and 50 % women (Triana, 2017). But then also there are many
differences among both on the basis of the fact that one is male and another is female. In the
work of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will I learned that this is a good example of the gender
diversity which is not highlighted in my test results. Rather my test outcomes highlighted the fact
that women are suppressed in the society by the men domination. Within this article it was
outlined that there is a gender gap between men and women and the men have higher power and
status as compared with the females almost all over the globe.
The article highlights the fact that the status of women all over the world is dependant on
four factors that is educational attainment, political empowerment, health and survival and the
economic participation and prevailing opportunities for females within the economy. It is
because of the reason that if the females will be more educated then they be more independent
and need not to rely upon males for any purpose. But this was not much in the test results. The
results highlighted the fact that females are more related with humanities and not much with
science. It means that females are less capable of doing practical work in comparison with males
(Amadiume, 2015).
Influence of attitude and beliefs on how person interacts with other person
These results have great influence on the beliefs and attitudes of myself that how they
interact with other person within the group. This is because of the reason that in earlier times

there was a great dominance of males over the females (Reynolds and Vince, 2017). I also
agreed to this fact that females were treated very low as compared to the males. It is because of
the reason that males were seemed to be more powerful and intelligent in comparison with the
females. But after reading the articles and conducting the test I changed my opinion. I started
feeling that females are also an important part of the society. They also form almost 50 % of the
whole population and works more efficiently and productively as compared with the males. After
doing this work my perspective relating to females have completely changed and now I prefer
promoting for the females and their upliftment within the society (Ngo, Steyn and McCombe,
2014). But all these results of the test and what I studied in other articles changed my
unconscious bias in relation to the females and their status in the society. Now I also developed a
feeling that males are not much powerful as compared with the females.
CONCLUSION
With the help of the above essay it was outlined that reflection is a good tool which can
be used and individual for outlining the knowledge in its own words. In the present essay the
topic highlighted and discussed was gender and related topics. It first started by discussing the
meaning of the implicit bias which means that a person develops a sub conscious feeling relating
to any person or any other situation. Further a test was conducted that Implicit Association Test
(IAT) which resulted in the fact that there is a moderate association of male with science and
female with humanities as compared to female with science and male with humanities. Further
the essay was supported by some different theories such as social dominance theory, social
categorisation theory, status construction theory and many other different types of theories. Next
within the essay the results of the test are being compared with some similar other researches. In
the end the impact of the results was highlighted on what influence on the beliefs and attitudes of
how person interacts with another person within the group.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amadiume, I., 2015. Male daughters, female husbands: Gender and sex in an African society.
Zed Books Ltd..
Antonetti, P. and Maklan, S., 2015. How categorisation shapes the attitude–behaviour gap in
responsible consumption. International Journal of Market Research. 57(1). pp.51-72.
Dean, M., Harwood, R. and Kasari, C., 2017. The art of camouflage: Gender differences in the
social behaviors of girls and boys with autism spectrum disorder. Autism. 21(6). pp.678-
689.
Gupta, V.K., Goktan, A.B. and Gunay, G., 2014. Gender differences in evaluation of new
business opportunity: A stereotype threat perspective. Journal of Business
Venturing. 29(2). pp.273-288.
Jansen, M., Schroeders, U. and Lüdtke, O., 2014. Academic self-concept in science:
Multidimensionality, relations to achievement measures, and gender
differences. Learning and Individual Differences. 30. pp.11-21.
Kautzky - Willer, A., Harreiter, J. and Pacini, G., 2016. Sex and gender differences in risk,
pathophysiology and complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Endocrine
reviews. 37(3). pp.278-316.
Loomes, R., Hull, L. and Mandy, W.P.L., 2017. What is the male-to-female ratio in autism
spectrum disorder? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American
Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 56(6). pp.466-474.
Mielke, M.M., Vemuri, P. and Rocca, W.A., 2014. Clinical epidemiology of Alzheimer’s
disease: assessing sex and gender differences. Clinical epidemiology. 6. p.37.
Ngo, S.T., Steyn, F.J. and McCombe, P.A., 2014. Gender differences in autoimmune
disease. Frontiers in neuroendocrinology. 35(3). pp.347-369.
Reynolds, M. and Vince, R., 2017. Organizing reflection: An introduction. In Organizing
reflection (pp. 15-28). Routledge.
Rost, K. and Seidl, D., 2019. The impact of balanced gender proportions in the workplace:
Contrasting theories of in-group bias against status construction theory using Roman-
Catholic Monasticism. In Unternehmen und Klöster (pp. 379-401). Springer Gabler,
Wiesbaden.
Triana, M., 2017. Managing diversity in organizations: A global perspective. Routledge.
Online
How does implicit bias influence behaviour? 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.verywellmind.com/implicit-bias-overview-4178401>