Page 1 - Implicit Bias

Implicit Bias

Updated April 2021

Threshold Choir Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Curriculum by Threshold Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force

is licensed under Attribution 4.0 International

1. What is Implicit Bias?

We use the term “implicit bias” to describe when we have attitudes towards people or associate
stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge.
Thoughts and feelings are “implicit” if we are unaware of them or mistaken about their nature.
We have a bias when, rather than being neutral, we have a preference for (or aversion to) a
person or group of people.

A fairly commonplace example of implicit bias is seen in studies that show that white people
will frequently associate criminality with black people without even realizing they’re doing it.
Within research on implicit bias, the most striking and well-known research focused on implicit
biases that people (unconsciously) have toward members of socially stigmatized groups, such as
African-Americans, women, and the LGBTQ community.

2. Implicit Bias and Threshold Choir

Most, if not all Threshold Choir members likely embrace the organization’s statement on
diversity: “Threshold Choir celebrates and affirms the beauty, dignity, and wholeness of all
people and believes that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness from their first to their
last breath. To support singing as kindness for all, the choir commits to creating authentic
connections with diverse communities doing end-of-life work in order to contribute to and
empower a just, inclusive, and equitable world.”

In spite of our appreciation of and support for the sentiments expressed in this statement, our
implicit biases may unconsciously block us from being as welcoming of and open to diversity as
we might believe we are. With regard to both people we sing with, people we partner with,
and people we sing for, we may harbor unconscious biases that preclude us from being as
welcoming and as open as we believe we are, and as want to be. We can potentially find these
implicit biases in areas including ability/disability, gender and gender expression, and
race/ethnicity/nationality. Because these unconscious biases may prevent us from fully
demonstrating “kindness made audible” to all people, regardless of who they are, it is
important for us to be aware of our own implicit biases, and to work to mitigate their impact as
we grow in the work of our choir.

3. Learning about my own implicit bias