Professor Bezio introduced the concept of cultural and implicit bias in her second podcast episode. Most notably, she discussed the ways in which bias has been framed as a “dirty word,” and in turn, having bias is a bad thing. However, we forget that each one of us experiences biases every single day. The environment in which one grows up in and their experiences shape their biases, making each of us have different thoughts and feelings. Biases become a problem when we do not recognize their presence, and use them to categorize ourselves vs. “others.”

Professor Bezio gives the example of Shakespeare as an example of how our perceptions of low and high culture change. Because of Shakespeare’s use of inappropriate sexual innuendos, in his time, he was considered by the upper classes as low culture or “other.” In today’s world, Shakespeare and his work are considered the epitome of theatre and high culture. I think this is a really important example to emphasize the importance and presence of change within our biases.  Exposure to new things and changing biases are not bad: Prof. Bezio also pointed out Dinsey’s recent inclusion of multicultural princesses as a means of change.

When doing this week’s reading, a part that I found of particular interest was the discussions on the different types of lies everyone uses on a frequent basis. When the question was posed at the beginning of this section, “how often do you give answers that you know are untrue”(21), I thought to myself the answer that the reading gave. That I believe myself to be an overall pretty truthful person who does not give answers that I know are untrue frequently. Afterall, our society teaches us from a young age that lying is bad and we should tell the truth. However, through the examination of the different types of lies, I was clearly wrong. I think probably everyone lies in at least one of these categories every day, myself included. Whether it be the simple lie of responding to the question how you are doing today or a lie that we choose to say because we want to manage how others perceive us. I would be honestly curious to see a study that examined the number of lies a group of people commit everyday for a set period of time and how the numbers of lies they commit in actuality compare to the number of lies they would predict they commit.

The discussion of the types of lies and biases we hold also reminded me of concepts I have learned about in my psychology courses. Specifically the discussion of blue lies stuck out to me because it reminded me of the concept of demand characteristics in psychology research. Demand characteristics is the idea that participants behave in the way that they believe the research wants them to, in a sense impression management. Participants want to present favorable outward behaviors or answers that they believe the other person wants to see or hear so they will view the participants positively. I believe blue lies and the presence of demand characteristics in psychology research can be attributed to the fact that everyone in society wants to feel accepted by others so we want to present the version of ourselves that we believe will be accepted most easily by our immediate audience. Therefore we might present a certain version or aspects of our person to certain people and not others depending on what they believe they would be most receptive to.

The podcast was a very interesting listen, as it really highlighted the problems of bias and stereotypes in our lives. As said in the podcast, biases are very dangerous and negative for a group of people, especially minorities. Because American culture has historically been centered around white culture, other groups are constantly excluded from the “classic” American. Especially harmful are the stereotypes present in Hollywood–white, blonde, blue-eyed individuals are the common archetype for heroes in movies. Like stated in the podcast, movies hyper-focus on negative minority stereotypes to extenuate in their narratives. Although a shift is beginning through more representation of POCs in the media, there is still much progress to be made.

As a Colombian-American, most of the representation I see in films is centered around drugs and Colombians as drug dealers. Not only is this stereotype negative and offensive, but it perpetuates judgement about ALL Colombians. The same type of judgement is common for other minority groups. American culture is made up of all groups, not only white people, after all the US is a country of immigrants, so all Americans deserve and are entitled to representation in the media.

I honestly was expecting my results it was comparing young to old people, which I had a moderate preference to young people over old people. I obviously love my grandparents but some of my friends think old people are really sweet and cute looking but I just don’t feel the same inkling deep down. I was expecting this because maybe I have a fear of getting older and want to stay young forever. I don’t know what else this would further mean, maybe I also have a perception of old people being cranky or mean. I wonder if this bias will shift as I get older or if I could have exposure to limit this bias.

I thought this podcast was really interesting and last semester in LDST 101 we touched on the representation in Hollywood for a bit. We watched Just Mercy and talked about how Hidden Figures was considered to be a “niche” movie yet had to be upgraded to the larger movie theatres because everybody loved it. I never knew this before last semester because I just assumed that everyone loved Hidden Figures from when it first premiered. However this gave me hope that audiences put biases or grudges aside in terms of seeing black women in science fields on the big screen and actually fell in love with the story. I think this says a lot about where our society is currently headed that even though the systemic things in place- Hollywood, Google, Facebook, Pandora, etc- who are trying to cater to white audiences are being persuaded by the people themselves to change their ways and to be better. It is pretty cool when you really think about it.

Further, I found the end part of the podcast super interesting about people increasing exposure to change their implicit biases by trying new foods and listening or watching to different types of things. This made me reflect on how I basically eat and listen to the same types of stimuli on a daily bases and that I want to and definitely should start branching out more and trying new things. I sometimes branch out and listen to older styles of music, however I really want to start expanding my palate and watching international movies or TV shows. I used to watch this German show called Dark and I absolutely loved it so maybe I will go back to watching it! I can’t wait to explore more of this when I go abroad in Copenhagen next fall!!

For the Implicit bias test, I took the coronavirus assessment. I was definitely surprised by my results, as it stated I has an equal implicit bias between describing coronavirus as dangerous and harmless. I clearly do not view coronavirus as harmless; therefore, I thought it was interesting how this test determined my results. For one of the sections of the quiz, I found the set up very confusing, so that may have skewed my results. However, the list of questions were very interesting and caused me to think deeply about myself and my own perceptions. Essentially, I still question if the quiz determined my own ideas about covid concerning myself or for the overall population. For me, since I am a young and healthy person I am not too scared of my personal health if I were to contract the virus. However, I definitely worry for older populations and those at risks, so I take precautions very seriously. If the aim of the test was to assess the effects of covid on myself, then I would believe this to be a fair assessment; but, this is not fair for my beliefs about the effects of covid for the general population.

I took the implicit bias quiz towards gay and straight people, and I was told I have a strong preference for gay people over straight people. I’d say that this doesn’t even kind of surprise me. I identify as a bisexual woman, and I have found much more support and safety for my sexuality in the queer community than in the straight one. Sometimes I feel as though my sexuality is heavily fetishized among straight people as well (Stereotyped among straight girls who think that because I’m bi I have no standards and immediately think I’m attracted to them after I mention it). The first comment that men tend to make towards my sexuality is something pertaining to sex, and specifically the ways my sexuality can perform for theirs. It’s pretty disgusting, so it makes sense I feel better with the people that don’t objectify me one way or another. Not to say that I hate all straight people- you guys (even though I don’t entirely believe you exit because I believe everyone is on the queer spectrum to some extent) are pretty cool too. But when I am around gay people, I sometimes tend to feel more human, and more appreciated in a non-sexual way.

I recently watched a Tik Tok where a gay woman was saying that she knew she was gay from a very young age, but didn’t know how to recognize it because the media objectifies women so much, she thought it was normal to be attracted to women in that sense. I feel as though this is a pretty universal truth, and one that queer women in particular have to work through every day. Growing up in a straight society, we are implicitly told that women are objects and that romantic relationships should have the end goal of reproduction in one way or another. I don’t know if other gay people have experienced this, but I had to fight back my own internalized preference for heterosexuality (And low-key homophobia) before I could fully accept my sexuality and feel liberated as a queer woman.

According to Dr. Bezio’s podcast, implicit bias refers to the snap judgements we, as humans, make everyday when we see someone. These judgments can be made of people’s ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, ability, or gender. I feel as though snap judgments are only a small part of the ways implicit bias interacts with us every day. I see it more commonly in the ways people look at me when I’m wearing more boyish clothes than girlish, or when I’m entering a space where few look like me. I notice it when I dare to play the devil’s advocate in class. In reality, I feel as though everyone views implicit bias more so by the ways it may oppress or affect themselves, versus genuinely looking internally and acknowledging the ways we judge others. Not to say this is a bad thing per se: I think it’s a very human thing to do to want to know what others are thinking of you. But I feel as though the fact we never acknowledge we, ourselves, can be biased just creates space for more judgement. Similar to performative activism, recognizing someone else’s bias and pointing it out can be just as harmful as being outwardly biased yourself. This is to say, I feel as though sometimes it’s more important to be able to recognize and work on our own biases instead of seeking for the bias in others.

An interesting thought that crossed my mind throughout both the podcasts and the readings is the idea of how implicit biases come into play when justifying a moral argument. As mentioned in prior readings, moral arguments depend on an ultimate truth of what is right and what is wrong. This kind of judgement cannot be made without the help of our own implicit biases, which in turn makes morality quite subjective. Although we may all know this to be true, how is it possible, then, that we all agree on morally corrupt things?  I feel as though this is best exemplified in the death penalty and the “pro-life” movement. Many anti-choicer’s are quick to say that abortion, of any kind, is murder, and that no one has the moral authority to take a life. However, when it comes to black drug offenders, the sooner they are executed the better.  The implicit bias that an anti-choice person has towards liberated women or POC people may have, in my opinion, more to do with their anti-choice position than the actual value they place on human life. And yes I’m sure you can make the argument that a drug offender is not innocent but a fetus is, but then I’d argue who are you to decide who is innocent or who is guilty? I don’t know. Just rambling ethical thoughts now.

My IAT test revealed that I have a slight preference for young people over old people. One reason I took this particular test was that I didn’t believe I had any bias against older people. My grandparents have each been very influential figures in my life, and I’ve grown up admiring them. Perhaps the family affiliation neutralizes a bias against older people. My results align with the dominant preference. I don’t know why Americans tend to have bias against older people, but I think that it is a more subtle predisposition that often goes unnoticed. I wonder if the typical young person living in a society where older people are revered would still have a preference for other young people, or if the scores would be reversed.

I found this podcast to be really interesting, and first I’d like to talk about the conversation of white culture. I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this, because it is something I have often thought about. In my opinion, there is more than one type of white culture, because not all white people fall into the same category. Same with black culture, Asian culture, etc. No race falls into a single category. Not every black, white, Asian, Latino, family is the same, and what about all the different countries that all races come from. There are Asians that come from the Philippines, and Asians from India, and their “Asian culture” can’t be put into one category. There can be many types of black culture, white culture, Asian culture, because you can’t put race and ethnicity into the same category. I bring this up because throughout my lifetime, I have heard countless of people say that white people don’t have culture, or that white culture is just stolen culture from every other culture. But I have also had people say to me that I do have culture because I am not American, even though I’m white. In their eyes, American culture isn’t white culture. The people I have met in my life say that white Americans don’t have culture, but if you’re white and from another country, then you do have culture. They’ve said to me, “Oh yea you’re different, you’re not American white,” even though I have lived in America most of my life and have adapted many American cultural things into my life. That’s why I’m curious to know where people draw the line. Even though I am from another country, I am still white, so wouldn’t that be one type of white culture? Maybe I am wrong, but I think within any racial culture, there can be multiple cultures.

I also wanted to discuss the fact that I love the diversity and representation we are beginning to see in Disney, Hollywood, and media. Showing kids of all races and ethnicities that they can be on TV; they can be superheroes and anything they dream of. I think this is incredibly important. When children only see black actors as drug dealers or Latino actresses as maids, this is what conditions our brains to create these implicit biases, snap judgements. It was nice for me to hear in the podcast that there is a way to disrupt these patterns and stereotypes from building in our heads by feeding ourselves new types of television and media. Like the podcast said, exposure is the best way to reduce implicit bias, surrounding ourselves with different music, movies, and people with different thought patterns as us, from different places/cultures, with different experiences. This will help us break down biases, and hopefully as diversity continues to increase on our screens, the next generation of children will be a lot less judgmental and biased.