It is important to understand the impact of implicit assumptions in a wide range of areas. I have been focusing on racism and sexism because they are two significant areas where clear differences emerge between what we consciously believe and how we actuallybehave.

For instance, in a 2007 study by Harvard psychologist Mahzarin R. Banaji, 287 doctors were presented with a photograph and brief clinical vignette describing a middle-aged patient who arrived at the hospital complaining of chest pain. Some of these doctors were provided with a photo of a white man and others a photo of a black man. The medical conditions of the patient were always the same.

The majority of the doctors acknowledged no conscious racism, but testing revealed a racism that ranged from being moderately biased against black people to being substantially biased against black people. The greater this implicit racial bias, the less likely the doctor would be to give a black patient clot-reducing thrombolytic drugs!

This is a staggering result as it suggests racism will influence critically important decisions made by people who are not consciously racist. It is particularly concerning when you consider that in 2000, the death rate from heart disease was 29 per cent higher among African Americans than among white adults, and the death rate from stroke was 40 per cent higher.

Thank god there is no racism in Australia nor anyone willing to exploit it for political purposes!

References

Green, A. R., Carney, D., R., Pallin, D. J., Ngo, L. H., Raymond, K. L., Iezzoni, L. I., and Banaji, M. R., September 2007, Implicit Bias among Physicians and its Prediction of Thrombolysis Decisions for Black and White Patients, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Volume 22, Number 9, pages 1231-1238.

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