Shire Professional have now completed almost all of the user interface for our instrument capable of detecting prejudiced attitudes in selection, development and evaluation settings.  This project and the instrument are called 'Implicitly'.  Development work has been going on since the 'Secret Policeman' documentary in 2003. 'Implicitly' is now available online in over 8 core versions but is capable of being made bespoke and we have over 40 bespoke versions avaiable.  The core versions are;;

• Age
• Gender
• Enthic Origin ( Asian, Black and SE Asian)
• Sexual Orientation (Lesbian and Gay)
• Disability

Implicitly is based upon implicit association theory (IAT) and social categorisation theory and uses these theories to detect and measure prejudice.  Shire completed two pilots in 2006 and 2007, a full criterion study in 2008 and Hogrefe UK launched the tests in June 2009. Shire wanted to develop an instrument which could be used in selection, training and development settings to detect and measure prejudiced attitudes and beliefs.  Implictly is believed to be the first IAT criterion based test commercially available in the UK which is completely customisable.  It can be quickly adapted to explore any kind of prejudice, not just about other ethnic groups, disability, gender or sexual orientation but for specific sub-groups such as young Black men or East European women.  Secondly, Shire has produced convincing evidence of the relationship between scores on this test and prejudiced beliefs and behaviours.  When Implicitly says a score is 'high' it means something in the real world.

 

Implicit attitudes: 'The Theory'

An ‘implicit attitude’ is one that we have by association because in our minds the two are inextricably linked (they are ‘associated’).  This association may have developed because of what others have said, how the media have portrayed a group or from our own experiences.  People associate positive or negative images with some things without any real basis for this, because it is associated in their mind with something they do view in that way. These attitudes are ‘implicit’ because they are often hidden and we may not even be aware of them.  When implicit attitudes are applied, often unwittingly they can become stereotypical attitudes: a belief that members of some groups have certain negative and positive attributes, often not based on fact or truth.  The candidate has much more difficulty in managing their impression with implicit attitudes, as often they are unaware their hold the attitude.

For the past 12 years there has been a growing body of research evidence that ‘implicit’ associations have a cognitive explanation in the way the brain is ‘wired’ and that they give insight to stereotyping attitudes and person judgements.  These theories have been applied to a wide range of attitudinal situations, such as voting preferences, health choices and preferences for certain ethnic groups.  Over the past 8 years researchers have started to develop tests of ‘Implicit Association’ for a range of factors including age, gender and sexual orientation.  These tests are web or computer based and depend upon timed responses.   

When placed in the wider context of the recruiting process, and when coupled with measures of explicit attitude, such implicit measures can serve as an alert to assessors that there is a need for additional scrutiny, assessment or training.  This might be with an in-depth interview, additional and more specific reference checks or additional targeted assessment centre exercises.  It might also involve additional training or exposure during training to situations likely to reduce or expose their true attitudes for assessment. They can also be used in a developmental context as part of a training or promotion process.  You can read the research background to the concept of IAT (Implicit Association Testing) at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Modern Racism

In modern organisations people have quickly learned that certain language and behaviour leads to censure.  They will often avoid the use of racist or other exclusionary language for fear of this censure.  Research suggests that racist attitudes may now have been subsumed into attitudes and expressions which are not subjected to organisational censure, but which allow they some vent of their attitudes.  This ‘modern racism’ literature suggests that certain, often socially acceptable phrases are actually underpinned by covert racist perceptions.  For example, phrases and beliefs such as “Some of my best friends are black’” when used to support a case that their behaviour is not discriminatory or racist are defensive mechanisms which suggest there may well be an underlying issue.  When people use or agree with such ‘myths, defensive tactics and denials of guilt’ it may give us some insight to their thoughts.