Uncovering your Inner-Biases

We all may feel like we view everyone around us as equal, but where we grew up, the people we've encountered and the media all influence the way we view other people, groups, and religions. There is nothing wrong with these underlying emotions as long as we recognize how they may have an effect on the way we treat and react to others. It is important to identify these implicit biases and address them with other people. Once you know what you may be actually thinking beneath the surface, it can lead to greater awareness and future change. So, talk to your friends or family about taking time out to uncovering your implicit biases and discuss the findings. Here's how to do something!

What is an Implicit Bias?

Implicit bias is the idea that regardless of whether or not an individual believes that they are biased in some way or another, people often have a great deal of subconscious (implicit) feelings of bias. Recent scientific research has discovered that biases thought to be extinguished from people or consciously worked against, are still within each of us. People still hold hidden negative stereotypes and prejudices regardless of how much they commit themselves to equality. So even though we believe we see and treat people as equals, hidden biases may still influence our perceptions and actions. Psychologists at Harvard, the University of Virginia and the University of Washington created "Project Implicit" to develop Hidden Bias Tests to discover unconscious biases.

Talk it Over With Your Friends or Parents:

Bring up the subject with your friends or parents. They might be interested in taking the test and seeing what they think of the results. As the do something generation, you and your friends can take a stand against discrimination by taking responsibility for your own biases. If your friends aren't interested in the idea, or if you just want to spread the dialogue, you can talk to your parents about having the family take the test and have a special dinner discussion about each other's findings. Together you can decide on what the best ways to combat discrimination are and what you can help others to do as well.

Test Yourself:

You can test implicit biases for a bunch of different situations or groups with this Harvard University Study at Project Implicit. There are a number of types of tests to take, so decide beforehand with your friends or family on which subject would be most interesting to talk over. When taking the test, remember to take it by yourself and not to let people or things around you be a distraction. Be honest with the questions; there is no one judging your answers and you will only get something valuable out of the experiment if you are truthful about your actions and opinions.

Discuss the Findings and What They Mean:

Set up a specific time with your friends or family to talk about what the test informed you of about yourself and your biases. People can, of course, choose not to be a part of the discussion, but you should try to stress the importance of open dialogue about issues such as discrimination in working to dissolve race, ethnicity, and religious tensions. Allow everyone to express the feelings and thoughts they had behind the questions. You will probably have both very different and very similar thoughts about the findings as your friends and family, and the best way to learn about differences is to discuss them openly. You should facilitate positive conversation and be sure not to allow offensive comments or judgment. Make sure to remind everyone to respect each other's opinions and that other people's experiences have given them a different point of view when it comes to certain topics and situations.

Once you've discussed the class findings, talk about how you can work as a group in your school and community to lessen tensions between groups. You can think of ideas such as watching gender, race, or culturally specific movies, having parties with particular cultural themes and food, or even presentations that will help to teach each other about different ethnicities, races, genders, religions, etc. Tolerance comes from understanding and appreciating the uniqueness that each individual group has to offer.

Beyond the findings...

The whole purpose of the test is to help make you aware of any underlying biases you may have, so take this information and stay conscious of how you may be acting in specific situations or toward different groups. The only way to end discrimination is make everyone aware of the fact that we are all different and that these differences must be acknowledged and appreciated. So share what you found and let other people know about this way to uncover their true feelings about discrimination.