From Google to Starbucks, more companies are introducing implicit bias training. These HR-sponsored courses are intended to foster diversity and inclusion by making employees more aware of unconsciously believed negative stereotypes. The idea is that if we can combat our underlying biases, we'll decrease discriminatory behaviors at work and level the playing field for women and underrepresented minorities.
And yet despite the growing adoption of unconscious bias training, there is no convincing scientific evidence that it works. In fact, much of the academic evidence on implicit bias interventions highlights their weakness as a method for boosting diversity and inclusion. Instructions to suppress stereotypes often have the opposite effect.
This is because the main problem with stereotypes is not that people are unaware of them, but that they agree with them. In other words, most people have conscious biases. For instance, in virtually any culture men are more likely to believe that women are too kind and caring to be leaders. From an early age, our relationships with others are shaped by common cultural stereotypes about social class and status. Perhaps most obviously, every nation has pervasive cultural stereotypes about other nations, usually its neighbors, which play a critical role in shaping and cementing their cultural identity.