Unconscious Biases

[brody_in_ga]

I'm curious, does this "unconscious bias" affect only white people? Usually, this sorta thing is trotted out to condemn white men who would dare to deny that they're racist...So to convince them, you tell them they really are racist, but they're just not aware of it...

As for your question, I would argue that such "biases" are fundamental to the human condition. Black, white, brown, etc.. will almost always assume things about other races and cultures. The best we can do is to try and teach our kids to respect one another and judge all men by the content of their character.

Making people attend "diversity" meetings and such will only further the divide, IMHO.

 

[panamaican]

Regardless . . . attending a training intended to change a bias I'm supposed unaware of having isn't going to implement immediate change at all IMO. Simply seeing some evidence that I could fit into a group thinking this way or that way is pretty much all these trainings express in many cases.

We all get those annual ethics, EEO and "inclusive workplace" emails . . . the majority of folks delete them without even reading them.

Yeah, it is pretty much immediate and lasting. This isn't my opinion. The research has shown that it doesn't take more than one exposure to training to create a lasting positive effect. And this is across a broad range of implicit biases, not just race related ones.

This is a bit like those people who refused to believe the sub was the center of the universe. They couldn't see it so they refused to believe it. 99% of them weren't even aware of the Earth itself spinning but they were certain that the math supporting heliocentrism was wrong.

Unconscious bias and the ways to mitigate it isn't something new, there are years of research behind it at this point.

 

[cincymma79]

http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/ww...Developing_an_inclusive_workplace_handout.pdf

Reading. Fucking meetings all day

 

[spamking]

Yeah, it is pretty much immediate and lasting. This isn't my opinion. The research has shown that it doesn't take more than one exposure to training to create a lasting positive effect. And this is across a broad range of implicit biases, not just race related ones.

So you're going to continue quoting research to support your stance on an unconscious decision that someone isn't aware they've made, but proclaims to show a noticeable change?

How exactly does a researcher establish a baseline/control group in such a study?

 

[luckyshot]

Meditate, you must.




But seriously, if everyone meditated for 30 minutes a day under a qualified non-denominational teacher, it would get rid of half* the world's problems.
















*It's science

 

[Jake the Muss]

I have updated the OP to divide the comments into productive, and counter-productive comments.

It seems like there is a lot more people who are leaning towards keeping things the same.

For those who are against the productive statements, aren't you tired of hearing these stories and having these discussions?

Don't you want to push the conversation forward so that we could focus on more important stuff?

If we don't target and tackle the problem, it is just going to be more of the same annoying discussions.

 

[cincymma79]

http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/ww...Developing_an_inclusive_workplace_handout.pdf

i do wonder about this stuff given the horrible measuring stick of self reported data and not tied to anything tangible. this was a follow up study in the last example for instance. i'm gonna need a ten year follow up of the workforce studied, maybe longer, before i agree 100%. promising perhaps? just knowing you're being measured alone might have an effect

 

[Trotsky]

Aren't people tired of hearing stories of innocent people are being discriminated against?

How does society fix unconscious biases?

Updated to include solutions:

• Unconscious bias training for adults @panamaican
• Unconscious bias training for children @Jake the Muss
• Take responsible of your biases and evaluate yourself @JonnyRingo84
• Mingle kids together @sangreporsangre (Singapore is doing this)
• Respect all men and judge by the content of one's character @brody_in_ga
• Meditation and mindfulness @luckyshot

Counter-productive rhetoric:

• Ignore the problem and it will go away @Rockapotomuss
• "Deal with it" @BudKing8806
• Have everybody breed with each other @irish_thug
• Spending money to fix the problem won't work @Gregolian
• Training makes things worse @cincymma79
• Training is code for thought policing @BudKing8806 @spamking
• Training kids is dangerous @IDL
• Grow some thicker skin @n...not crazy
• The reason biases happens is because of bad first impressions @HunterSdVa29
• Unconscious bias training doesn't yield positive results @LogicalInsanity @spamking @brody_in_ga

The OP made me lolololol with the shaming list of "counter-productive rhetoric."

Anyways, this is an immensely complicated issue, but (clearly) the solution isn't throwing your hands up, screaming "cultural marxism!," and embracing ignorance.

Education is, of course, the conduit for change - but how to reach persons (like many in this thread) of.....modest intellectual faculties and relative disinterest in learning: that is the challenge.

 

[salamander]

I'm in favor of the HEURISTIC model, myself.

*shrugs*

 

[panamaican]

@Jake the Muss My update should be training for government workers (teachers, policemen, judges, etc.). I don't think we need to train the general population.

 

[PrinceOfPain]

Awareness.

Preferably not in the form of accusations and attacks.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Like @panamaican simply educating people about the existence of unconscious biases and how it manifests itself in our daily lives would help. That can be done at work and in schools. Beyond that not sure there's much that can be done.

 

[Islam Imamate]

@Jake the Muss My update should be training for government workers (teachers, policemen, judges, etc.). I don't think we need to train the general population.

Don't you think that exposing high school aged students to something like this could be beneficial? Of course it'd have to be designed with them in mind.

 

[Jake the Muss]

Don't you think that exposing high school aged students to something like this could be beneficial? Of course it'd have to be designed with them in mind.

Did you watch the video on the front page?

This type of training can be introduced in junior school all the way up to adults.

@panamaican the problem with waiting until a person is of a certain age or position is that they build up a resistance to the training. They would've already found their voice, and do not have any problems exercising their authority and may even obstruct the process.







@IDL of course children should get access to this type of training, they are a lot more malleable.

 

[Trotsky]

then how do we gauge the "success" and/or "failures" of these trainings if we are not conscious of them?

(not trying to be a dick, seriously interested in your answer)

The threshold we're looking for is to make you feel guilty enough about your whiteness that we can usher in the black/brown hostile takeover and propagate our cultural marxism.

 

[Jake the Muss]

The threshold we're looking for is to make you feel guilty enough about your whiteness that we can usher in the black/brown hostile takeover and propagate our cultural marxism.

 

[Islam Imamate]

then how do we gauge the "success" and/or "failures" of these trainings if we are not conscious of them?

(not trying to be a dick, seriously interested in your answer)

That's a good question. I think addressing these unconscious biases is important but measuring success here seems difficult to me atm. Maybe there's an obvious answer I'm missing here though.

 

[Soul Crusher]

Be more worldly, travel, understand other cultures and appreciate that there is a world outside our/your very limited scope. Have empathy for others and understand they have walked a different path to you. Reject overly patriotic declarations or demands from politicians - these are good only for controlling people and making people think less of others. The very worst of regimes have often had the very strongest sense of patriotism. Don't take pride in things that you have no control over such as your ethnicity or place of birth; these are not your accomplishments and they only divide us.

Reject anything that goes into identity politics be it on the left or right. At the fringes both are lunatics and should not be accepted.

Try to understand what the other side of the debate is saying. There's actually a good reason why people think the way they do and they might be right. If you legitimately can't understand a somewhat central opinion of a broad group of the left or right it is probably you who is narrow minded. I'm not saying you should agree with it but you should at least be able to appreciate a few good reasons why they think that way.

Other than that we're stuck with it. Flame on WR.

lol damn that's a lot of white progressive delusion.

 

[Judge]

Aren't people tired of hearing stories of innocent people are being discriminated against?

How does society fix unconscious biases?

Updated to include solutions:

• Unconscious bias training for government workers (teachers, policemen, judges, etc.)@panamaican
• Unconscious bias training for children @Jake the Muss
• Take responsibility of your biases and evaluate yourself @JonnyRingo84
• Mingle kids together @sangreporsangre (Singapore is doing this)
• Respect all men and judge by the content of one's character @brody_in_ga
• Meditation and mindfulness @luckyshot
• Speak out against and shame people for being willfully ignorant @Trotsky @Jake the Muss
• Hold people accountable for their micro aggressions. @Jake the Muss

Counter-productive rhetoric:

• Ignore the problem and it will go away @Rockapotomuss
• "Deal with it" @BudKing8806
• Have everybody breed with each other @irish_thug
• Spending money to fix the problem won't work @Gregolian
• Training makes things worse @cincymma79
• Training is code for thought policing @BudKing8806 @spamking
• Training kids is dangerous @IDL
• Grow some thicker skin @n...not crazy
• The reason biases exists is because of bad first impressions @HunterSdVa29
• Unconscious bias training doesn't yield positive results @LogicalInsanity @spamking @brody_in_ga
• Addressing unconscious biases is designed to target white men @brody_in_ga

^ here is all you need to know on the subject from someone who knows the SCIENCE behind it.

 

[Social Distance Warrior]

As I understand it, we have strong evidence to believe that the training works based on research in this area. So while we can't measure the impact on random working individuals, we do know that concept overall will reduce the presence of the bias in those who received the training. Maybe not 100% in everyone, maybe not at all in some people, but as applied to the group, it works. And that's a very solid benefit for a low risk bit of training.

Personally, I think a good first step is to have an open, candid dialogue about this...

Coincidentally, I recently attended a seminar on this very topic.

What hinders progress on this issue is that people are incredibly reluctant, if not down right terrified to discuss anything race related in an open setting .