Implicit bias
Attitudes or stereotypes about groups of people that a person holds without full awareness and that can influence their perceptions, decisions and behavior.
Implicit biases are associations people learn over time, often from their surroundings and experiences, about groups based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religion, language, body size or socioeconomic status. Unlike openly held beliefs, they operate without full awareness, so someone can sincerely value fairness and still be influenced by them. Everyone has some implicit biases; having them is not the same as acting on them deliberately.
In ABA services, implicit bias can affect what an RBT notices and records, how they describe behavior, what expectations they have of a client or family, how patient or warm they are, and how they interpret a caregiver's choices. For example, the same behavior might be recorded as "aggressive" for one client and "playful" for another, which harms data accuracy and fairness.
Task F.10 includes identifying personal biases as part of cultural humility and responsiveness. The RBT Ethics Code (2.0) requires RBTs to actively evaluate their own biases and to recognize that personal biases may affect their ability to provide services effectively. If a bias may affect services, RBTs take steps to resolve the issue, such as developing an action plan, reporting to their supervisor or obtaining training under the supervisor's direction, and document those actions.
Practical safeguards include using operational definitions and objective data, checking assumptions with the family, asking for supervisor feedback, and reflecting on patterns in one's own reactions.
Example and non-example
| Example | An RBT notices they write more detailed notes about "defiance" for some clients than for others with similar behavior. They review their notes against the operational definitions and discuss the pattern with their supervisor. |
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| Non-example | An RBT openly states that they do not want to work with families of a certain religion. That is an explicit, stated bias, not an unconscious one, and it also conflicts with the code's requirement not to discriminate. |
Don't confuse it with
| Cultural humility | Cultural humility is the ongoing practice of self-reflection and learning, while implicit bias is one of the things that practice helps identify. |
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| Observer drift | Observer drift is an unintended change over time in how an observer applies a definition, while implicit bias is an unconscious attitude about groups of people that can affect observation and judgment. |
Test yourself
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Question 1What is implicit bias?
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C: Attitudes or stereotypes we hold without realizing it. Implicit biases are attitudes or stereotypes that influence our understanding, actions and decisions without conscious awareness. Because they are not obvious to us, identifying them takes deliberate self-reflection and feedback.
- A: Openly stated prejudice is explicit bias, not implicit bias.
- B: Disagreeing about goals is a difference of opinion, not a bias.
- D: Implicit bias is in a person's reactions, not in a written plan.
Task F.10 · 40-hour curriculum section G · RBT Ethics Code 1.09
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Question 2The RBT Ethics Code says that RBTs actively work to:
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B: evaluate their own biases and ability to work with diverse people. RBTs actively evaluate their own biases and their ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds, and they get any needed training under their supervisor's direction.
- A: Limiting services this way is inequitable and does not address bias.
- C: Learning about clients is part of cultural responsiveness, not a threat to objectivity.
- D: The supervisor helps, but the code says RBTs themselves actively evaluate their biases.
Task F.10 · RBT Ethics Code 1.07
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Question 3An RBT thinks, "Families from that neighborhood never follow through with home programs." What is this thought an example of?
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C: A stereotype that can bias the RBT. Assuming something about a person because of a group they belong to is a stereotype. Noticing such thoughts and checking them against each family's actual behavior is part of identifying personal biases.
- A: It is a generalization about a group, not a summary of any family's data.
- B: Responsiveness means learning about each family, not assuming things about them.
- D: A multiple relationship is a mixing of roles, not a belief about a group.
Task F.10 · RBT Ethics Code 1.07 · RBT Ethics Code 1.08
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task F.10 Cultural humility and responsiveness in content area F, Ethics, which is 11 of the 75 scored questions.