ABSTRACT
How many times have you been treated inappropriately because of the way you look? One of us-a woman-has been mistaken as a secretary when standing in the main office of her department on more than one occasion. The other-a man-cannot remember a single instance of this occurring during his years in the same department. Most likely, this is an example of an implicit inference based on gender. The tendency for people to mistake a woman, but not a man, as a secretary is an example of implicit stereotyping, because secretary positions are often associated with females in American society. The implicit nature of the bias suggests that it comes to mind automatically and can have unintentional and often subconscious influences on judgments and behaviors. In this case, the female professor might have been asked for directions to the Xerox machine. This example may appear relatively benign, however, when compared with more pernicious examples in recent history of innocent Arab-Americans being mistaken as terrorists and AfricanAmerican men mistaken as criminals. At their worst, implicit racial biases can lead to wrongful indictments and executions.
