"Unconscious Bias" in Japan, "Implicit Bias" in World / U.S.

 I checked the search volumes for the following terms on Google Trends. The horizontal axis represents the period from January 2004 to August 2024 (as of August 23, 2024), and the vertical axis shows the percentage relative to the highest search volume during that period, set at 100%. If the text appears small and hard to read, please click on the image.

In Japan, as shown in the above figure, the term “アンコンシャス　バイアス” (orange, Unconscious Bias) is searched more frequently than “潜在的　バイアス” (dark blue, Implicit Bias) (as of August 23, 2024). 

Looking at the graph, the number of searches for “アンコンシャス　バイアス” has significantly increased since 2018. I have considered the reasons for this.

The earliest introduction of the term “アンコンシャス　バイアス” in Japan seems to be around 2016(essay.pdf (djrenrakukai.org)). The results collected by Hisako Otsubo were compiled into a proposal in English (提案書（表紙） (oist.jp)) in 2016. This proposal listed “implicit/unconscious bias,” as is often seen in English-speaking countries.

Subsequently, in 2017, a leaflet titled “Do you know about unconscious bias?” (UnconsciousBias_leaflet.pdf (djrenrakukai.org)) was created by Otsubo and Machi Dilworth and distributed to universities, academic societies, and the Cabinet Office (first edition in 2017, revised edition in 2019).

In this leaflet, the term “Unconscious Bias” is chosen instead of “Implicit Bias.” Additionally, the leaflet uses the same font size for “Unconscious Bias” and “無意識のバイアス,” suggesting that people are expected to read it as “Do you know about Unconscious Bias?” Furthermore, this leaflet is published as a PDF file named “UnconsciousBias_leaflet.pdf.” Therefore, the leaflet contains multiple elements that promote the awareness of “Unconscious Bias” rather than “Implicit Bias.”

Thus, it is speculated that the distribution of this leaflet since 2017 is one of the reasons why “Unconscious Bias” has been significantly more searched on Google in Japan since 2018, compared to “Implicit Bias.”

Why was “Unconscious Bias” adopted in this leaflet instead of “Implicit Bias”?

One reason could be that in 2014, Google held a seminar titled “Unconscious Bias @ Work” (Unconscious Bias @ Work | Google Ventures (youtube.com)), which became a topic of discussion. This video has been viewed over 370,000 times as of October 7, 2024. The reason for holding this seminar was due to external criticism that more than half of the people featured in Google Doodles (temporary changes to Google’s homepage to commemorate notable individuals’ birthdays, etc.) were white men, indicating a need for improvement. CNN also reported on this criticism, confirming that it was a topic of discussion at the time (Google Doodles team makes strides toward diversity pledge | CNN).

Adopting “Unconscious Bias” in this leaflet is speculated to have laid the groundwork for misunderstandings and misuse, as will be introduced later.

So, what happens if a similar survey is conducted worldwide?

I checked the Google search volume for the following terms on Google Trends. The horizontal axis represents the period from January 2004 to October 2024 (as of October 12, 2024), and the vertical axis shows the percentage of the maximum search volume during that period, with the highest search volume set at 100%. If the text is small and hard to read, please click on the image to enlarge it.

Globally, “Implicit Bias” is searched more frequently than “Unconscious Bias.” As we have seen, this is likely because “Implicit Bias” is more prevalent in academic circles. Additionally, the search volumes for both “Implicit Bias” and “Unconscious Bias” have increased since 2014. It can be said that 2014 was the year when society began to show interest in this issue.

For most of the period, the search volume for “Unconscious Bias” follows the trend of “Implicit Bias,” but in 2020, the search volume for “Implicit Bias” spikes significantly. Why is this?

In that year, African Americans George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were killed by police officers in the United States, leading to the intensification of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement across the country. At the same time, the term “Implicit Bias” became widely known (Taking a hard look at our implicit biases — Harvard Gazette). This might be reflected in the graph.

Bias and Police Killings of Black People : NPR

Additionally, the search volume for “Implicit Bias” also spiked in 2016. This spike appears to be unique to “Implicit Bias” and does not follow the general trend of “Unconscious Bias.” This is likely due to Hillary Clinton mentioning “Implicit Bias” during the U.S. presidential debate that year. At that time, the issue of police shootings of African Americans was already a significant concern. Clinton stated that “Implicit Bias” is not just a problem for police officers but for everyone, and she intended to address it. This debate was watched by 83 million people. The impact of this event might be reflected in the Google Trends data.

As mentioned above, the term “Implicit Bias” is globally recognized as the mainstream term.

From here, I would like to introduce Unconscious Bias/Implicit Bias in more detail and provide foundational knowledge to illustrate its misuse in Japan. First, how is Unconscious Bias/Implicit Bias measured?