Are Ideal Litigators White? Measuring the Myth of Colorblindness

Abstract

This study examined whether explicit and implicit biases in favor of Whites and against Asian Americans would alter mock jurors' evaluation of a litigator's deposition. We found evidence of both explicit bias as measured by self-reports, and implicit bias as measured by two Implicit Association Tests. In particular, explicit stereotypes that the ideal litigator was White predicted worse evaluation of the Asian American litigator (outgroup derogation); by contrast, implicit stereotypes predicted preferential evaluation of the White litigator (ingroup favoritism). In sum, participants were not colorblind, at least implicitly, towards even a "model minority," and these biases produced racial discrimination. This study provides further evidence of the predictive and ecological validity of the Implicit Association Test.

Keywords: implicit bias, IAT, Asian Americans, implicit association test, predictive validity, lawyers, litigators, depositions, colorblindness, discrimination, jurors