There was some discussion about the methodology on Reddit, but I think there is some controversy over whether the methodology used to measure bias is sound. Basically, you're asked to categorize a series of items as quickly as possible, and the time taken is used to measure your "implicit bias".
As usual for things where people can have strong incentives to lie, revealed preference is the only reliable indicator. But since that can't be observed in a psychology lab, instead we see questionable attempts at mind-reading like drawing spurious conclusions from response times. It would be just as scientific to hook the subject up to a polygraph and ask about biases.
Since obesity is generally seen as a moral failing rather than something that can't be controlled, people are comfortable admitting their bias. However, for race where it's rather unfair and also doing so will get you fired or worse they prefer not to.
Your biases when making quick decisions might not have any relevance to your biases when making day-to-day decisions or when making long term policy-like decisions.
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There was some discussion about the methodology on Reddit, but I think there is some controversy over whether the methodology used to measure bias is sound. Basically, you're asked to categorize a series of items as quickly as possible, and the time taken is used to measure your "implicit bias".
You can try it out for yourself at: https://implicit.harvard.edu/
As usual for things where people can have strong incentives to lie, revealed preference is the only reliable indicator. But since that can't be observed in a psychology lab, instead we see questionable attempts at mind-reading like drawing spurious conclusions from response times. It would be just as scientific to hook the subject up to a polygraph and ask about biases.
Since obesity is generally seen as a moral failing rather than something that can't be controlled, people are comfortable admitting their bias. However, for race where it's rather unfair and also doing so will get you fired or worse they prefer not to.
Your biases when making quick decisions might not have any relevance to your biases when making day-to-day decisions or when making long term policy-like decisions.