Mahzarin BanajiView profile
Professor
Mahzarin Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. She previously served as the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2002-2008) and as the George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Chair in Human Dynamics at the Santa Fe Institute (2011-2015). Currently, she also serves as Senior Advisor to the Provost at Harvard University. Banaji is widely recognized as a leading researcher in social psychology, particularly in the field of implicit bias and social cognition. Banaji received her PhD from Ohio State University in 1986 and completed a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle. She taught at Yale University from 1986 to 2001, where she was the Reuben Post Halleck Professor of Psychology, before joining Harvard University. Professor Banaji's research focuses on the subconscious nature of assessments of self and others in social contexts. She is best known for her pioneering work on implicit bias, particularly through the development of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which measures unconscious attitudes and beliefs. Her work bridges cognitive science and psychology to understand how implicit biases form, persist, and can potentially be changed. Banaji has demonstrated how these unconscious biases can influence behavior in critical domains including healthcare, education, and law enforcement, often without individuals' awareness. She has also extensively studied how biases change over time, showing that while some implicit biases have decreased significantly (particularly regarding sexual orientation), others remain stubbornly persistent. Banaji has received numerous prestigious awards recognizing her contributions to psychology and social science, including: Election to the National Academy of Sciences (2018) Election as Fellow of the British Academy (2015) William James Fellow Award for lifetime intellectual contributions to psychology Gordon Allport Prize for Intergroup Relations Kurt Lewin Award for outstanding contributions to the integration of psychological research and social action Morton Deutsch Award for Social Justice James McKeen Cattell Award Carol and Ed Diener Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Psychology Herbert A. Simon Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Banaji has advised numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who have gone on to become leaders in social psychology and related fields. She has secured significant research funding to support her work on implicit bias, including grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Her research has influenced policy discussions around diversity, equity, and inclusion in educational and organizational settings. Banaji has also been active in translating her research for public understanding through her co-authored book "Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People" (2013) with Anthony Greenwald, and through her media series "Outsmarting Human Minds." Professor Banaji leads a vibrant research laboratory focused on implicit social cognition. Her team employs a range of methodologies including behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, computational modeling, and large-scale data analysis to investigate the nature and consequences of implicit bias. Recent work has expanded to examine bias in artificial intelligence systems and how large language models reflect and potentially amplify societal biases. The lab collaborates with researchers across disciplines including computer science, neuroscience, education, and public policy to address the complex challenges of implicit bias in society.
