Unconscious Bias?
Our memory holds many things, including unconscious biases... without our awareness that the biases even exists or that they influences our behaviors.
Understanding Preconceived Notions & Stereotypes
Hear the word flour and what comes to mind is probably baking, bread, and pizza crust. The preconceived notion that flour is only found in baked goods can lead to surprise when it is discovered that it can also be an ingredient in: pasta sauce, hot dogs, salad dressing, soup, taco sauce, and even dog food. Having these notions about other people is like assuming that you know all of the ingredients of an item of food just by looking at it.
People are made up of many more “ingredients” than what is visible from the outside. It is only by taking the time to learn more about a person.
What Are Stereotypes?
Known as preconceptions or preconceived ideas, refer to the ideas, beliefs, or opinions that people form about something or someone before having sufficient information or experience. These notions are usually based on limited knowledge, past experiences, stereotypes, cultural influences, or personal biases. They can be both positive and negative and can influence how we perceive and interact with the world around us.
Here are a few key points to know:
Preconceived notions often develop through a combination of personal experiences, social conditioning, media influence, and cultural norms. They can be influenced by family, education, religion, and societal expectations.
- Stereotypes are generalized beliefs or assumptions about a particular group of people based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or nationality. Stereotypes can lead to unfair judgments and discriminatory behavior.
- Cognitive biases are the inherent tendencies of the human mind to process information in certain ways. These biases can distort our perception, judgment, and decision-making, leading to errors and misunderstandings.
- Confirmation biases occur when people seek or interpret information in a way that confirms their existing beliefs, while ignoring or dismissing evidence that contradicts their preconceived notions.
Challenging these notions requires open-mindedness, empathy, critical thinking, and a willingness to explore diverse perspectives and experiences. It involves questioning our own assumptions and actively seeking out new information to gain a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of a person, situation, or concept.
They can significantly impact our relationships with others and shape broader social dynamics. They can contribute to stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, and the perpetuation of social inequalities. Overcoming them is essential for fostering inclusive, understanding, and harmonious relationships and societies. It's crucial to be aware of their influence and actively challenge them to promote fairness, empathy, and a more accurate understanding of the world.
Is This The Image That We Really Want?
The team struggles to decide who should make a presentation. Stereotypes and biases influence their choices. A new approach focuses on what each team member can contribute, leading to a more collaborative and successful plan.
How to Unlearn Bias?
Bias describes both positive and negative mindsets towards individuals and groups. Many references to bias refer to the persistent, harmful and unequal treatment of someone based solely on some characteristic they possess or their apparent membership in or identification with a particular group.
Recent research in brain science has given some insight into unconscious bias; our memory holds many things, including unconscious biases without our awareness that the biases even exists or that they influences our behaviors. The most effective strategies for “unlearning” bias are based on self-awareness and self-management.
For example:
- be aware of common stereotypes and seek opportunities to recognize, experience and value diversity and the many examples of group members that disconfirm the stereotype;
- intentionally think specific counter stereotypical thoughts whenever you encounter a member of the group associated with the stereotype;
- increase diverse group and social contexts, including opportunities for familiarity and friendships which increase our ability to see people in a more individual manner; and,
- participate in training which stresses appreciation rather than elimination of group differences.
An alief is an automatic or habitual belief that may be in conflict with an individual’s stated, explicit or espoused beliefs. For example, a person who believes in racial equality may nonetheless have aliefs that cause them to treat people of different racial groups in subtly different ways.
Another example of unconscious bias is aversive racism which is characterized by subtle behaviors used to rationalize aversion to particular groups. As opposed to traditional, overt racism which is characterized by overt expressions of dislike for and discrimination against racial/ethnic minorities, aversive racism is characterized by more complex, ambivalent expressions and attitudes, such as “I am colorblind; I don’t pay attention to color.”
People who behave in an aversively racial way will often deny their racially motivated behavior; nevertheless they change their behavior when dealing with a member of another group in subtle and indirect ways. People whose behavior is characterized by aversive racism often sympathize with victims of past injustice, support the principle of racial equality, and regard themselves as non-prejudiced, but at the same time they harbor negative feelings, beliefs or uneasiness about other groups. These hidden attitudes are often transmitted to the people in the groups that are impacted through micro messages in body language, tone of voice and expression.
Discussion Questions
- How do assumptions about who other people are hinder our abilities to work well together?
- What are stereotypes that others have had of you? How have those affected you?
- How can finding out what a person is like inside help us to develop a better and relationship with each other?
- What might keep us from getting to know each other better? How can we overcome those limitations?
Reference: The Harvard implicit-association test (IAT) is a free online resource that is designed to detect the strength of a person's automatic association with certain groups based on characteristics such as race, religion, weight, skin tone, gender, etc. The Stereotype IATs measure associations between concepts that often reflect the strength to which a person holds a particular societal stereotype.
