The Psychology of Unconscious Bias

A lot of the posts on this blog are based off of articles on other social justice websites. This week, i decided it was time for a change. I searched through my favorite websites, Psychology Today, for some insight on unconscious bias and what I found was an article that both shocked and impressed me.

Check it out here.  

Dr. Mikhail Lyubansky expands on some issues outlined in a 2012 W.K Kellogg Foundation panel on "Unconscious Bias and Race." The issue is introduced with the horrifying study that revealed that Doctors actually treat patients different based on the color of their skin. They give them less pain medication, they're more reluctant to do strenuous procedures on them, and more likely to perform less desirable solutions like lower -body amputations for diabetics.

With data like this, both Lyubansky and panelists argue, it is impossible to deny that racial bias exists, and yet so few are willing to admit that unconscious bias is an issue, that racism is just a left-wing urban legend. 

Psychologists argue that this bias is nothing to be ashamed of. Our brains naturally categorize everyday items into groups to make more sense of them, and the very same applies when it comes to people. But just because it's normal, doesn't mean it's okay. The longer the biases go unknown, the more harmful they can be, because the deeper they become ingrained into one's logic. 

My favorite point was the following:

“There are three types of not knowing,”[John Powell, director of the Haas Center for Diversity and Inclusion and Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion at the University of California Berkeley] explained: 1. What we can’t know, like how many neurons are firing at any given moment, 2. What we don’t care to know, like the color of the car we pass at a particular intersection, and 3. What we don’t want to know.  When we talk about racism, we usually talk about #2 and #3, and those are important conversations to be having.  We all need to care. We all need to want to know. But #1 is important as well."

The article very prophetically describes a series of repercussions for unchecked bias that we are seeing here today. It's a pretty old piece, but overall, I think it's a good read because it goes over a lot of points that should made included into the conversation of unconscious bias, many of which weren't even mentioned in this blog post.

So the real question is, do you disagree? What stuck out to you?

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New Study Explores Why We Deny Personal Privilege So Much

It's easy to admit that privilege exists, but admitting it exists in ourselves is a whole other beast, and it seems like the more privilege you have, the less you actually get the concept of privilege. Personal accountability is a bullet dodged far too often, and according to a study released this past week by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the reason why comes with a common misconception of what privilege actually looks like.

Accourding to a report by the Pacific Standard, during the study a group of 94 and 91 participants respectively were administered two different surveys: one covering racial inequality in America and the other childhood experiences. One group answered the survey straight away, while the other read a paragraph providing evidence of white privilege in multiple aspects of society. Researchers found that those who read the paragraph first were more likely to deny white privilege in their survey, but also more likely to claim harship in the other one.

They further predict that  "...such evidence will be threatening and that people will claim hardships to manage this threat. These claims of hardship allow individuals to deny that they personally benefit from privilege, while still accepting that group-level inequity exists."

In other words, many fail to realize that a life with privilege is not a life without hardship, and just because one is oppressed in a single way, does not mean they do not benefit from privilege in any aspect at all. Tom Jacobs, author of the Pacific Standard article mentioned above, argues that we like to believe that in this country everything we gain is based off of our own merits, and when this idea is threatened, we feel offended, we feel like we're being told that we don't earn what we have. And yet, being accountable for one's personal privilege has nothing to do with denying their merits, but rather, admitting advantages. It takes a great degree of maturity to admit there is a difference between the two, but make no bones about it, a difference does exist.

Do you see individuals deny their privilege frequently? Do you agree with this study's explanation for this behavior? Express your thoughts below!

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Stigmas in STEM: Women of Color Struggle for Respect in the Workplace

It's no secret that women, particularly women in color, face the brunt of significant bias in their careers. But you'll be shocked to know the extent of it. According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, which included 557 surveys and 67 in-depth interviews from women in science, female scientists find that they constantly have to "prove" themselves to male co-workers. Prejudice fills these labs like a hot, sticky fog, causing women to struggle not only in maintaining respect, but preserving their passions. 

According to this study, there are 5 types of Bias most women  in STEM have in common.

 
1. Prove-It-Again:
People take Women's word for it when they insist that they are competent enough to do their jobs. Not only do they have to prove themselves over and over, but they often need more evidence to prove their points than male colleges.

  2. The Gender-Role Tightrope:
Women can't act too feminine or they won't be respected, but at the same time, they can't be too masculine or they'll be considered "unlikable"

   3.  The Maternal Wall
Women are frequently questioned and expected to start families and, if they do, they are often pressured by co-workers to work less hours so that they can take care of their children.

   4. Tug-of-War
While women generally support each other in the work place, others report that they feel as if they are competing for the "women's spot" in the workplace.

   5. Isolation
This one is specific to women of color, who feel as if engaging with others socially takes away from their authority. In other cases, they find themselves being excluded from things because they think they'll be uncomfortable as the only minority in the group.

In addition to this, many women of color reported people being completely open and expectant to racial stereotypes, one black biologist reported being asked by an administrator if any of her family was "into drugs or in jail" while several Latinas claimed to overhear the stereotype of Hispanics being lazy.  What's even worse, many of these minorities have reported to have been mistaken for janitorial or administrative staff.

This shows the sheer impact of bias. So many assume that making these assumptions is harmless, but the truth is, they hurt. And when people are faced with these comments and assumptions on a day-to-day basis, it goes from being a nuisance to a hostile workplace.Gender and Racial bias is driving women out of a field that we desperately need more people in. It's yet another reason why we must she'd our ignorance and put bias to an end.

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Economic Benefits of White Privilege

Privilege isn't usually isolated, many times, certain kinds of privilege are connected to others. White privilege, for example, connects to class privilege in many cases.This article breaks down information from the US Census Bureau and provides six easy-to-understand charts that illustrate six different building blocks in the bridge between white and class privilege.

See the full story on Upworthy.com

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José, Joe, and the Unconscious Bias in Between

This Buzzfeed article has been trending for a while, and I've felt the need to share it since the first time I came across it. José's story is as shocking as it is tragic.  Most importantly, it is representative of the unconscious bias that many of us have. 

It is unlikely that each one of the hundreds of employers José contacted consciously decided not to hire him because he had a Hispanic name. Scenarios like this happen all the time due to an unconscious bias perpetuated by the stereotypes associated with members of each race. John, Joe, or George are perceived as more professional than Juan, José, or Jorge because employers often associate ethnic names with the stigma of an ethnicity. In José's case, he was assumed to be a migrant worker, and immediately dismissed. Bias, whether conscious or unconscious, hurts people all the same. It's important to be aware of the different kinds of bias so that we can try to identify them in ourselves and others, and then fix the problem from there. 

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