A Study of the Social, Ethical, and Policy Implications of Neuropsychological Research on Implicit Bias

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General Audience Summary A post-doctoral research fellow will examine the social, ethical, and policy implications of neuropsychological research on implicit bias. He will use a multi-sited qualitative methodology to empirically trace and elucidate the material consequences and social implications of implicit bias research. This project seeks to understand how neuroscience research on implicit bias is produced and organized in the lab, and to understand how social dynamics are conceptualized and operationalized in neuropsychological research on implicit bias, with specific emphasis on the promises and challenges of operationalizing race and racism at the neurobiological level. These determinations will then be used by the research fellow to elucidate the current and future interventions and policy opportunities for neuropsychological research on implicit bias. The results from this project will help better appraise ethical issues raised by the use of neuroscience research in society, which will aid in development and implementation of institutional and social policies on inequality and discrimination. The project serves enhance the number of underrepresented minority researchers focused on ethical, legal, and social impacts of science and technology.Technical Summary This project is one of the first empirical science projects to examine how race is used and invoked in neuroscience research. It will contribute substantially to the well established Science, Technology, and Society (STS) research on genomics and race by providing insight into the ways these new neuro-understandings of cognition and behavior impact experiences with and practices of race. The study will address the growing use of bio-social models of research by focusing on the way social dynamics are measured and utilized in implicit bias research. The study will take the materiality and social realities of the brain seriously; in so doing, it will describe how the "social" is defined, operationalized, and transformed (or re-imagined) through neuro-research. In addition, the project will help illuminate the ethical challenges for neuroscience research and elucidate the advantages and limits of interdisciplinary STS scholarship that is focused on the intersections between the brain and sociality.