Let’s Get Uncomfortable & Address Our Unconscious Biases
What we don’t think we think- and thinking to unthink those thoughts
Increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there. Barack Obama
Implicit biases are an evolutionary adaptation that helped us survive. They include the fundamental fight, flight or freeze response. Our experiences, our preferences, our education, our upbringing all contribute to the model of the world we have, and it makes us who we are. They are the under the surface, auto responses that happen in our minds. But even after thousands of years, we haven’t yet learned to recognize and overcome many of our unconscious (and conscious) biases related to race, gender, disability, age, geography, and even species.
So what, then, can we learn from the available research to continuously apply to ourselves, our organizations and our communities, if our goal is to continue to be open to experiences, and become a less biased version of ourselves?
A plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Acknowledge your organizations’ biases. And acknowledge your community’s biases.
Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable.
"Once you get a bit uncomfortable, you start to think differently," Naomi Sesay, head of innovation and diversity, Media Trust
The question is not if it is happening, it is when is it happening and what can we do about it.
Now is the time to get comfortable being uncomfortable, develop empathy, and help activate change. Only by recognizing privileges and deconstructing unconscious biases are we able to build a life where everyone can be seen and heard - and truly be themselves. Then, and only then, can individuals and organizations succeed and flourish.
Let’s #TalkAboutBias #schoolofthought
Reflect
The truth is that no one has perfect self-awareness—you probably believe more than a few things about yourself that are false.
Unconscious biases are stereotypes and internalized perceptions about individuals or groups of people that are formed without conscious awareness. Everyone has them. Unconscious biases have evolved as a way of distinguishing friend from foe and as a way of keeping ourselves safe from danger. This process has been, and may on occasion still be, useful.
But the categories we use to sort people are not logical. In fact, these biases often are not even legal, relevant or appropriate. Our unconscious is quicker and bypasses our normal, rational and logical thinking. And these biases are frequently confirmed in implicit ways.
Try this:
Type the word DOCTOR in your textbox on your iPhone. Notice what comes up. On my phone, it is an emoji of a white man with blond hair in a white coat. Even seemingly innocuous images like an emoji can reinforce these gendered and racial stereotypes and demonstrate the structural racism and sexism inherent in our society.
It is a vicious cycle. The biases and stereotypes feed into such designs, and these images, in turn, propagate such biases. Unconscious biases are everywhere. From the neighborhood that we choose, the close friends that we have, to the jobs we get.
Connect
Developments in neuroscience now demonstrate that many biases are formed throughout life and held at the subconscious level, mainly through societal and parental conditioning. We gather millions of bits of information and our brain processes that information in a certain way – unconsciously categorizing and formatting it into familiar patterns. Though most of us have difficulty accepting or acknowledging it, we all do it.
When we talk about privilege, however, we need to remember that it’s not about individuals, but societal structures. Everyone encounters difficulties in their lives, but the difference lies in whether or not they are caused by unequal and discriminatory societal structures. For instance, if you don’t need to think about something, like the color of your skin, in your everyday life, that in itself is already a privilege.
People who lack a certain kind of privilege are constantly aware of it, one way or another.
What can we do to address and act against unconscious bias in the classroom, boardroom and in our lives?
Interact
Try the following activities with others, or by yourself. Let us know what they bring up for you.
Check this out: A bat and a ball cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? ____ The answer is here.
What does #likeagirl mean? After answering, watch this:
Try this Mad Libs type exercise by EdSurge. We have used it in community meetings and it’s inspired interesting dialogue.
First, the goal is to make the paragraph cogent, to choose words that make sense in context.
And second, do it alone, without discussion.
Third, share with someone and explore your choices. More here.
The first step to changing your implicit biases is acknowledging that you have them. You can check your level of implicit bias by taking one (or several) of Harvard’s Implicit Association Tests on Project Implicit. The entire process takes around 10 minutes. Though it has some criticisms, IAT can jumpstart thinking about hidden biases. Share what you notice.
5. What do you notice about this image produced by the Red Cross? Ask others for what they notice. We have found enlightening answers come from younger children.
For discussion, see this video.
Counteract
We share these activities as the first step in addressing bias is awareness. The learning is not about activities. For this learning against bias to be effective, the work we need to do begins on the inside — inside of ourselves, inside of our own organizations, and in our own communities. But we also need to recognize that long-term work means dismantling systems and structures that are built with bias.
Educators at RVLTN frequently evoke the metaphor of a window and a mirror—- and it is especially useful for increasing our equity consciousness and understanding what is needed to take effective leadership for equity.
We all need to truly look in the mirror to notice how our particular lived experiences have shaped our beliefs, attitudes, and biases about ourselves and others. And, with increased knowledge of ourselves, we also must look out the window to understand how racism, classism, sexism and other forms of systemic oppression operate in our institutions to create systemic advantage for some groups (white, male, heterosexual, cisgender, etc.) and disadvantage for other groups (people of color, women, LGTBQ+ people, etc.) in every sector of community life.
Strong efforts to acknowledge, interrupt, and mitigate the effects of implicit bias will require us to engage in on-going mirror work, exploring our own biases and paying attention to how we are primed to think about categories of people while simultaneously engaging in window work, looking at our current context with a systemic and historic lens so that we can dismantle inequitable policies and structures and create new structures in which we all experience belonging and can thrive.
We are guided, through uncomfortable conversations, facing realities, and engaging in who we are, to being the people, the organizations and the communities we all want and mean to be.
RELATED STORIES and References
The Problem with Implicit Bias Training (Scientific American) August 28, 2020.
Measuring Implicit Bias in Schools (Harvard, Shareable Knowledge) August 11, 2020.
Attention School Leaders: Students Are Demanding Anti-Racist Curriculum and Instruction (Teaching Now) June 9, 2020.
How to Become a Less Biased Version of Yourself (Fast Company) February 12, 2019.
Breaking the Prejudice Habit. (Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry) 2014.
Call to Action
Be encouraged by the fact that biases are malleable and can be changed by re-programming our brains and creating new “cognitive habits.” The catch is using the right strategies.
Brush up on the things that do not work in counteracting bias. See this article by Zaretta Hammond.
Set Intentions: You have to acknowledge that you harbor unconscious biases and are motivated to change.
Bring Attention: You have pay attention to your triggers and know when stereotypical responses or assumptions are activated.
Take Time: You have to make time to practice new strategies designed to “break” your automatic associations that link a negative judgment to behavior that is culturally different from yours. See this resource.
We’d love to hear your thoughts so keep on sharing posts, articles, or other initiatives that resonate with this week’s theme so we can all continue learning.
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