The Podcast and reading were both very interesting and reiterated bias as I studied it in high school during my ethics class junior year. The podcast began by saying, “bias is dirty.” Bias can be dirty in the fact that it is seen as something wrong which is completely true. However, I have learned that some people come from a bubble where they only interact with diverse environments in very limited situations. It is important to remember that even when something wrong is being said, it is a learning opportunity for individuals. It can be a period of growth as some individuals do not grasp what they have said and view nothing wrong with the situation. Taking these incidents and making them a learning curve by creating open dialogue and not attacking an individual aids in making the change in righting the wrong.
Something that just stuck out to me was the section on stereotypes. I think it is so interesting how stereotypes can easily change my personal perspective of a situation especially when it can be with people I have never interacted with and have absolutely no knowledge about them as individuals. This also makes me wonder how often stereotypes have played a role in my decision making without being fully aware of the thoughts. And this made me think on a larger scale, such as how many decisions are made daily that are based on stereotypes alone?
Another section that made me laugh was when the questions were brought up. I know for myself, I am used to saying “I’m fine” whenever I am asked how I am doing even when I am not. However, whenever that is answered by someone else, I like to follow up to see if it is true (when time in the conversation allows). All the question in the article were so true and its crazy to think of all the times I have had one of these happen to me.
IAT Response
I decided to take the same IAT that I took in high school during my junior year Ethics class. I was not surprised at the results as I had a hunch it would be similar to three years ago. However, I did think that I am just not as skilled at remembering when the buttons switched categories, so that added an extra difficulty in keeping that straight every round. But, I would take some time during some of the questions as I could not remember what each key represented and would have to read the instructions over a few time. I am not sure if other people had a similar experience or if it was just me but it also could have just been the test I chose.
I like how you pointed out the “I’m fine” response in relation to personal experience. The white lies that we tell to others and the colorless lies we tell ourselves really seem to be harmless but it would be interesting to know if this denial of true mental state impacts any other decisions we make. I too will often respond “I’m fine” to the generic “how are you” question and think that it would ultimately be better for everyone if it was normalized to give honest responses to that type of question.
I like your question about how bias and stereotypes run our day-to-day lives. I think a fair amount of our decisions are made from assumptions, I also think this number is elevated if someone is a pleaser. Because if one is always trying to say what they think other people want to hear then they will be making assumptions constantly.