Abstract
AbstractWhat is the mental representation that is responsible for implicit bias? What is this representation that mediates between the trigger and the biased behavior? My claim is that this representation is neither a propositional attitude nor a mere association (as the two major accounts of implicit bias claim). Rather, it is mental imagery: perceptual processing that is not directly triggered by sensory input. I argue that this view captures the advantages of the two standard accounts without inheriting their disadvantages. Further, this view also explains why manipulating mental imagery is among the most efficient ways of counteracting implicit bias.
Highlights
My claim is that this representation is neither a propositional attitude nor a mere association
I argue that mental imagery is much better suited to fulfill the theoretical role of the biasing representation: it is sensitive to semantic content and insensitive to logical form
It is easy to see that mental imagery fits the profile of biasing representation we identified in the last section
Summary
The question I raise in this article is about the mental representation that is responsible for this biased behavior (often referred to as implicit attitude). This representation mediates between the trigger and the biased behavior (Holroyd ; Brownstein ; Del Pinal and Spaulding ; cf Johnson for an alternative framing of implicit bias). My claim is that this representation is neither a propositional attitude nor a mere association (as the two major accounts of implicit bias would claim) I argue that mental imagery is much better suited to fulfill the theoretical role of the biasing representation: it is sensitive to semantic content (unlike associations) and insensitive to logical form (unlike propositional attitudes). If the reader is skeptical of the Implicit Association Test, this is not a reason to be skeptical of the broader phenomenon of biased behavior in general
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