Implicit Bias

Guest: Calvin Lai, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis On Tuesday, May 29, all the standalone Starbucks stores in the country will close for a few hours in the afternoon “for a mandatory training around unconscious bias.” That announcement came from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson a few days after a manager in a Philadelphia Starbucks called police on two black men who were waiting for a friend but hadn’t ordered anything. Video of the men being arrested by police went viral, prompting national outrage and an apology from Starbucks. But what’s this “unconscious bias” training the company’s baristas will now be required to take? And what difference might it make?