Stereotyping Patients

There is a burgeoning psychological literature indicating that health professionals are influenced in their clinical judgment and decision making by implicit biases. Implicit biases are automatic and unintentional associations that are made between members of particular social groups (racial, gender, socioeconomic, and so on) and certain traits (e.g., laziness, greed, athleticism, and so on) or affective responses (i.e., positive or negative affectivity).1 When automatic stereotyping occurs through the operation of implicit bias, people are associated with particular traits in virtue of their social group membership rather than their other personal characteristics. This stereotyping has been found to influence the judgment and decision making of health professionals, leading to differential medical outcomes. The quality of care that patients receive can be determined in part by their social group membership and the associations that are made with their social group by those responsible for patient care.