I was surprised by the results of the inference test. I know that everyone has inferences but I was shocked that it also included me. I think that moving forward I need to be cognisant of  how I am thinking and processing information. I think that these are helpful tools that allow us to have eye opening moments with ourselves for reflection.

Stereotypes create blindness. The case study of the woman who wasn’t examined for a blood test shows how stereotypes create deadly biases. A similar study led by Dan Battey has found that white teachers in majority-black classrooms have more negative behavior than white teachers in majority-white classrooms and black teachers in either majority white or black classrooms (Battey et al., 2018). For the study, the researchers observed student-teacher interactions from twenty – five middle schools with three different levels: white teacher and predominantly white class, a black teacher, and predominantly black students and a white teacher and mostly black students. Then they examined the way teachers handled and talked to their students regarding lessons, discipline and day-to-day interactions (Battey et al., 2018). Their results showed that all teachers, despite race, were more likely to discipline bad behavior than to applaud good practice. However, white teachers of black students reprimanded their students four times more likely than the other two groups who were the same race as their students. This behavior though implicit is deadly and blindly behavior. 

“Mindbugs – ingrained habits of thought that lead to errors in how we perceive, remember, reason, and make decisions” 

Mindbugs are reminiscent of another trick of the brain; implicit biases. Implicit biases “refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner” . Implicit biases are mindbugs on a higher scale of how the brain can negatively perceive a situation. In the article’s case, all that was at stake was misjudging the equal size of two shapes, but what about when it comes to the equal rights of two humans? We are all created equal but our society enforces stereotypes to build the implicit biases that some races are superior to others. This is a major issue especially  when it comes to the label and biases of criminality. For example, the identification of a criminal as the “dangerous black criminal”. Criminality is not a label created by existing behind the bars of a cell, but a label that can be given to individuals before they are even born. It is the predetermined conception of who these individuals are supposed to be, ultimately shaping who they become. Mindbugs or implicit biases exist are not correct responses but rather automatic responses to the world being filtered in. Our job is not to take in the world without speculation but to relentlessly question without hesitation.