We're all a little biased

BY: TORI

We're all biased, even if we don't know it.

The NY Times has a good article that addresses a recent event in the Vice Presidential Debate. When Tim Kaine raised the issue of implicit bias in institutional racism, Mike Pence took serious offense to it as a condemnation of law enforcement officers.

When most people hear the words “implicit bias” they automatically assume it means racist but that's not the case, the definition of implicit bias is known as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. Implicit bias is just one of many psychological processes that shape how we interact with one another. We also tend to be better at remembering the faces of people in our own racial group, or to subconsciously favor people in our group.

This is one reason that when I have to reply to assignments on D2L, I really want to do it anonymously. I cannot trust that I do not have implicit biases on the basis of age, gender, race, etc. That is the benefit of learning about implicit bias: knowing that we are subject to influences outside our awareness and making every effort to guard against them.

 "Milton Broome's Virtual Psychology Blog." Milton Broome's Virtual Psychology Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.