A lesson in bias: The relationship between implicit racial bias and performance in pedagogical contexts

• Published in: Journal of experimental social psychology 2016-03, Vol.63, p.50-55
• Main Authors: Jacoby-Senghor, Drew S., Sinclair, Stacey, Shelton, J. Nicole
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Bias; Educational disparities; Implicit prejudice; Intergroup interaction; Nonverbal behavior; Racial differences; Racial differentiation; Social psychology
• ISSN: 0022-1031; 1096-0465
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2015.10.010

We posit instructors' implicit racial bias as a factor in racial disparities in academic achievement and test the relationship between this factor, instructor lesson quality, and learners' subsequent test performance. In Study 1, white participants were assigned to the role of instructor and gave a short lesson to a learner who was either black or white. Instructors' implicit bias predicted diminished test performance on the part of black, but not white, learners. Further, instructors' anxiety and lesson quality, as rated by coders, mediated the relationship between their implicit bias and learners' test performance. In Study 2, a separate sample of non-black participants watched videos of instructors from cross-race lessons from the first experiment. Once again, instructors' implicit bias predicted diminished test performance by participants. These findings suggest that underperformance by minorities in academic domains may be driven by the effect implicit racial biases have on educators' pedagogical effectiveness. •We created learning interactions with white instructors and black or white learners.•Instructors’ implicit bias predicted black, but not white, learner test performance.•This effect was mediated by coder-rated instructor anxiety and lesson quality.•New participants watched video of the cross-race lessons to test lesson quality.•Instructors’ implicit bias also predicted test performance of these participants.