Understanding Our Brain, Race & Identification

In our last class, we read the introduction to Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What We See by Jennifer L Eberhardt, PhD, who is a college professor at Stanford University. In this book, she brings together her studies of race, her experiences, and the experiences of other in a way that allows us to better understand the perception of race by ourselves and others. Today, we are going to proceed to "Chapter 1: Seeing Each Other." I will be sharing it on my page in Zoom, but there is a google drive document with Chapter 1 on the left side of the blog and below is also a link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B9orlL9Y2ZhH9FVrSMVsN6Ca8vC2gDc1/view?usp=sharing Afterward, we will consider the following questions for discussion: What is the "other-race effect"? Is there any way to avoid it, or is it an inevitable feaure of a human community? Have you been in situations where you have been mistaken for another person as a result of the other-race effect? How did you feel? How did you respond? How might the other-race effect make us vulnerable to bias? How can we correct or compensate for its influence? Think about a time in your own life when you confused two people who were of the same race and different from your own -- perhaps calling one by the wrong name, or attributing an action to one that was actually done by the other. How did you react when you realized your mistake? What emotions do you remember surfacing for you -- or for the two people you confused? Did you think about what led you to make the error, and did you acknowledge the faux pas? Why or why not? Dr. Eberhardt discusses the implications of the other-race effect in schools and in the criminal justice system. Can you imagine ways this plays out in other settings, such as school, college, the workplace or informal social gatherings?