Hiding in Plain Sight: Implicit Bias Presentation

Publication date: 
October 2015
Source(s): 
Johanna Wald and Andrew Grant-Thomas

Did you know that one inch of height is worth almost $800 per year in salary? Or that immigrants with light complexions earned 15% more than those with darker skin? Or that employers who viewed identical resumes were more likely to interview “James” than “Jamal”?

A burgeoning field of scholarship suggests that unequal racial, gender, and other outcomes may be partially explained by the implicit, or unconscious, bias held by many of us, particularly key decision-makers, such as doctors, teachers, judges, and philanthropists. One striking aspect of this research is that implicit biases can co-exist, often unbeknownst to the holder, alongside far more explicit egalitarian values.

Johanna Wald and Andrew Grant-Thomas presented this participatory keynote on implicit bias, addressing:

  • how these unconscious biases take root in our brains
  • research on how these biases affect both individuals' decisions and actions and become embedded in our institutions, including philanthropy
  • strategies aimed at ameliorating the effects of implicit bias, personally and institutionally

The presentation includes two videos, which can also be found here:


Other resources and reading on implicit bias:


There are files attached below:

  1. Implicit_Bias_Presentation_10_1_15 - The slides from Johanna and Andrew's presentation at the 2015 Funders Forum
  2. Implicit_Bias_Reading_List - A summary that Johanna and Andrew put together of research about implicit bias, with a focus on the school to prison pipeline. 
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