Presented by Evelyn Carter with Commune
Tags: bias, discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes
“Social identity informs the way we structure the world and make assumptions about the people around us.”
Bias
- General preference for or against people based on their social identities
- An umbrella term for more specific concepts:
- Prejudice: a gut reaction (our attitude)
- Discrimination: behaviour; how we treat people (our reactions)
- Stereotypes: a labeled applied to people based on a category (our mental associations)
- Important to start from our own perspectives:
- How would you answer the question: Who are you?
- Our social identities, groups, categories we belong to/identify with:
- Some are visible or concealable
- Ingroup: people we share one or more of our social identities (are like us)
- Outgroup: people who do not share our social identities (are not like us)
- Our social identities, groups, categories we belong to/identify with:
- Where did you grow up? Who occupied those spaces?
- The places you choose to be (work and play) are made up of people who are mostly like you
- How do you learn about people who are different from you?
- Often happen through second-hand retelling:
- Stories from others
- Things we’ve seen or read that reinforce particular narratives
- Often happen through second-hand retelling:
- How would you answer the question: Who are you?
- We are more likely to notice behaviour by someone who’s group is distinctive (minority or distinct appearance)
- We create rules between a particular group and behaviour
- Our biases are a function of our socialization
- Information we are exposed to, both passively and actively
- Personal and second hand experiences
- We absorb biases in a passive way but are responsible for our socialization
- Biases shape the way we see the world around us, our judgement, and interactions we have with others
- Biases are the result of and serve to create inequalities that exist in our society and are harmful
- Research has indicated the mental and physical health consequences of experiencing discrimination:
- Substance abuse
- Poorer cardiovascular health
- Greater instances of depression, anxiety and stress
It’s your responsibility to check your biases.
Unlearn, relearn and question.
Resources to learn more:
Buried Prejudice: The Bigot in Your Brain by Siri Carpenter
Learn more from Evelyn:
Identifying Implicit Attitude (Part 2)
Techniques for Reducing Bias (Part 4)
More from Commune
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