“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others” — this line from George Orwell’s 1945 classic ‘Animal Farm’ perfectly describes how bias operates in human societies.
In a study published in May last year, psychologists explored how people subconsciously evaluate different racial groups. They screened responses from more than 60,000 participants belonging to four groups: ‘white’, ‘blacks’, ‘Hispanics’, and ‘Asians’ (67% of them lived in the U.S.)
Using a psychological test called an implicit association test (IAT), scientists found stark differences in participants’ explicit statements from their implicit beliefs. While everyone verbally said they believed in the equality of all races, they also harboured implicit biases in favour of socially advantaged groups. This bias was also universal, irrespective of the racial identity of the participants.
