Implicit Bias in Healthcare Professionals Beyond Implicit Association Tests: A Neuroscientific Understanding

Research regarding implicit racial bias among healthcare professionals has grown substantially for more than two decades alongside efforts to ameliorate implicit bias-related health disparities. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) has been the primary method used to demonstrate that healthcare professionals display implicit biases that are linked to disparate health outcomes. IATs also have been used as intervention tools. This chapter questions the clinical utility of IATs by examining how, in addition to psychometric concerns, the stereotype IAT measures only one aspect of bias that does not account for neuroscientific advances in understanding intergroup biases. Further, this chapter cautions that continued use of the stereotype IAT in its current form could sow distrust of implicit racial bias interventions by skeptics and divert the commitment of those eager for change into ineffective solutions. By integrating critical analysis of the IAT with social neuroscience, this chapter shifts the focus from individual knowledge of stereotypes in healthcare providers to an interactive and systemic approach, emphasizing the need for interventions that address neurobehavioral and structural roots of bias throughout healthcare systems.