Experimental Evaluation of Implicit Bias Education in the College Classroom

Background: One common method of teaching students about diversity, equity, and inclusion is educating them about implicit bias-stereotypes and prejudices that are relatively automatic or unconscious. Research reveals positive impacts of implicit bias education but is limited to organizations and social psychology classrooms. Objective: The purpose of this study was to: (1) create a brief online education about implicit bias that could be adapted broadly in college classrooms and (2) test whether the education intervention improved learning, motivational, and behavioral intention outcomes. Method: We randomly assigned professors of a first-year seminar to instruct their students (N = 498) to complete a survey containing our dependent measures before or after receiving a bias education intervention, which included completing an Implicit Association Test. Results: The bias education intervention increased objective and subjective knowledge of bias and multicultural competence, awareness of one's own bias, and behavioral intentions to reduce bias. Conclusion: These results suggest that a brief online bias education may be one effective tool in helping to create an inclusive campus environment. Teaching Implications: The publicly available bias education intervention provided here can be used broadly as one component of education around diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses.