Actions Speak Louder than Words: How Teachers' Unconscious Biases Harm Black Student Achievement

Abstract

The following experiment looks at individual interactions between the professor and the student in a classroom setting to determine if nonverbal behaviors can mediate the relationship between the implicit bias of professors and student test scores. By coding for specific nonverbal behaviors in three different categories (friendliness, anxiety, and responsiveness), the present research found that nonverbal behaviors of anxiety toward black students significantly mediated the relationship between the professor’s implicit bias and student’s academic achievement, and had no effect on white students’ academic achievement. These results imply that the unconscious, nonverbal behaviors of teachers in the classroom have harmful effects on black students, and are possible contributing factors to the achievement gap in America. Keywords: achievement gap, education, implicit bias, nonverbal behavior.