Background plus test
4.83
5
3.79
4.67
4.1
3.71
4
3.04
3
2
1
0
Liberal arts
Reading
Lower socio-economic group
Maths
Higher socio-economic group
That is, based on her socio-economic status alone, participants judged working-
class ‘Hannah’ as being somewhat less intelligent than middle-class Hannah. But
when presented with ‘objective’ information, their unconscious bias showed through
as much more pronounced—even though, when questioned, all participants said
that the demographic information was ‘not useful’ in making their evaluations.
When they were asked to explain those evaluations, they spoke about only the
test items on which the child's performance was consistent with their initial
expectations. Participants who expected a good academic performance (from
‘middle-class’ Hannah) decided that the test was very difficult, which would account
for instances of poor performance. Participants who expected a poor performance
(from ‘working-class’ Hannah) reported that the test was easy, which would account
for apparently inconsistent good performance.
Participants were also asked to report what they saw as positive or negative
behaviours and attributed a significantly greater number of positive behaviours to
‘middle-class’ Hannah and a significantly greater number of negative behaviours to
‘working-class’ Hannah. ‘Working-class’ Hannah was reported to have ‘difficulty
accepting new information’, whereas ‘middle-class’ Hannah was reported to have the
‘ability to apply what she knows to unfamiliar problems’. Again, both groups were
talking about the same video recording of the same girl responding to the same
questions.
The disparity between the grades before and after participants had seen the
recording of the test suggests a disjunction between conscious and unconscious
motivations.
When social class was the only factor, the perceived difference between
working-class and middle-class Hannah was relatively mild. Assumptions about the
relative difference in intelligence based on class alone didn’t disappear, however.
One group agreed that working-class Hannah was a bit below average. Another
group agreed that middle-class Hannah was a bit above average. None of them chose
the ‘don’t know’ option.
But after seeing the ‘objective’ information—with the issue of social class
apparently off the table, with no resulting guilt to hold back conscious motivation,