Glossary
Explicit bias
What is Explicit Bias?
Explicit bias is a consciously accessible evaluative attitude or belief that a person can report. In social-group research, it can include openly endorsed prejudiced beliefs. Being explicit does not mean that every action influenced by the attitude was carefully planned.
Research example
In Dovidio and colleagues’ study, self-reported racial attitudes predicted aspects of verbal behavior in interracial interactions, while a response-latency measure predicted aspects of nonverbal behavior.
An example of explicit bias
Openly endorsing the belief that women are unsuited to leadership is an explicit biased belief. Whether someone reports a belief can also depend on what they are willing to disclose.
Explicit vs. implicit bias
Explicit measures ask people to report an attitude. Indirect measures, such as response-latency tasks, infer associations from performance. The Dovidio study found different relationships with verbal and nonverbal behavior, but that is not a universal division between deliberate and spontaneous action. An implicit-test score is not a conclusive reading of an individual’s unconscious beliefs or future discrimination.
Why it matters
What someone endorses is relevant evidence about their attitudes. It is still necessary to examine what they do and what they are willing to disclose. A report, an indirect measure and an observed action answer different questions.