Leadership Resources

Project Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaborative network of researchers investigating implicit social cognition – thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. Project Implicit is the product of a team of scientists whose research produced new ways of understanding attitudes, stereotypes and other hidden biases that influence perception, judgment, and action.

Project Implicit translates that academic research into practical applications for addressing diversity, improving decision-making, and increasing the likelihood that practices are aligned with personal and organizational values.

Project Implicit allows you to assess your conscious and unconscious preferences for over 90 different topics ranging from pets to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers to styles of music. At the same time, you will be assisting psychological research on thoughts and feelings.

Sessions require 10-15 minutes to complete. Each time you begin a session you will be randomly assigned to a topic. Try one or do them all! At the end of the session, you will get some information about the study and a summary of your results. We hope that you will find the experience interesting and informative.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) Implicit Bias Test – Are you Biased Against Women Leaders?

Women make up almost half the workforce and earn more college and postgraduate degrees than men do, but leadership positions in business, government, and education are disproportionately filled by men. Why?

Part of the story is that women face a variety of structural barriers, but a major factor is implicit bias. Most people — consciously or unconsciously — are more likely to associate men with workplaces and leadership positions and women with home and support roles. These kinds of associations lead to a biased assessment of women’s performance and ability as leaders. Even those of us who believe in gender equality and want to see more women leaders are vulnerable to bias, thanks to internalized cultural associations about gender roles and leadership.

Knowing about the unconscious associations we hold is the first step toward correcting our biases. That’s why AAUW is conducting original research on people’s associations between gender and leadership, and you can contribute! Please take our Implicit Association Test and pass it on to your colleagues, friends, and family. It just takes 10 minutes, and the results will inform our research on women in leadership.

Both women and men should take the Implicit Association Test. We’re looking for a diverse group of respondents so that we can better understand how people across our society think about women and leadership. We need women and men, younger and older people, people of every race and ethnicity, and people from different states and regions to participate!

We appreciate your role in helping us understand — and eliminate — the barriers and biases facing women in leadership.