Comment on Uhlmann, Poehlman, and Nosek

IDEOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND LAW, Jon Larson, ed., Oxford University Press, 2012

UCLA School of Law Research Paper No. 11-38

4 Pages Posted: 5 Dec 2011 Last revised: 4 Jan 2012

See all articles by Jerry Kang

Jerry Kang

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law

Date Written: December 4, 2011

Abstract

The question “person or culture?” matters for law and policy because at issue is the viability of a new sort of “cultural defense.” That defense says that the (oftenembarrassing) automatic associations aren’t really measuring “me”; instead, they are measuring something about “culture.” So don’t blame me, and don’t hold me responsible. Uhlmann, Poehlman, and Nosek’s chapter demonstrates that a strong version of the cultural defense - that it has absolutely nothing to do with me - cannot withstand the evidence of predictive validity.

What about a weaker version that concedes that automatic associations have something to do with me and have some predictive power, but that they do not amount to an “attitude” and instead influence behavior via “social norms”? In this brief Comment, I argue that from an ethical and legal perspective, it is unclear what if anything should turn on that fine distinction in state of mind. Far more important are two simple questions: First, do we consciously endorse the automatic associations in our heads? Second, what will we do to counter the automatic associations we consciously reject?

Keywords: implicit bias, culture, cultural defense

Suggested Citation

Kang, Jerry, Comment on Uhlmann, Poehlman, and Nosek (December 4, 2011). IDEOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND LAW, Jon Larson, ed., Oxford University Press, 2012, UCLA School of Law Research Paper No. 11-38, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1968274

Jerry Kang (Contact Author)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law ( email )

385 Charles E. Young Dr. East
Room 1242
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1476
United States
310-206-7298 (Phone)
310-206-7010 (Fax)

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
123
Abstract Views
1,174
Rank
470,579
PlumX Metrics