Recognizing Bias in Order to Lead Better Lives

The book that we are reading, "Biased:Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do" is based on the life time work of Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD and other scientists.

What the author does is provide the science behind "what we see, think and do", and specifically those things that arise out of a bias related to race. Sometimes she uses her personal experience or the personal experiences of others to try to make the science easier for us to understand. As part of her work, she investigates police departments and other organizations to determine if systemic racism exists, she writes reports, then she educates those individuals within these systems about the biological and cultural roots of racism. She explains how a person can be programmed through their culture to have bias in "what we see, think and do". She educates people in order to promote change. Her work, which we are reading, teaches us how we can understand the roots of racial bias so that we can better understand why "we see, think, and do" the things that we do, which also provides us the opportunity to educate others about racial bias. While we can't always change the bias we identify, she teaches us to identify bias and its roots and suggests ways we can minimize the effects of bias in our lives. In this class, what I would like for us to do as we read these chapters is think about how the science that we are learning might explain our own viewpoints and bias and how we and others might have viewpoints that have arisen from our culture and biology in ways that we might not recognize without thoughtful consideration. In better understanding ourselves, we can work to understand others, recognize bias when we see it, and take steps to better our lives.