What is Bias?

A bias is a tendency or preference for or against a person or idea. Biases can be helpful if we prefer supportive relationships over negative influences, or staying away from junk food in favor of healthy choices. Our biases can be founded in negative or positive stereotypes instead of personal experience or facts. When we take the mental shortcut of categorizing people based on stereotypes, we can make quick, inappropriate judgement that can be discriminatory. The key is to find a balance between relying on your bias when it is helpful and keeping your bias in check when it is hurtful.

The following activity can help us uncover bias we may not even be aware we have:

Discovering our biases is one way we can become more self-aware. Discovering our own cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes and reminding ourselves we have judgments that are based on our own experiences can help prepare us for learning and working within diversity. Self-awareness is the first step toward cultural competence, which can be defined as the ability to communicate and interact with people of different cultures. Beyond getting to know yourself better, you can increase cultural competence by:

• Learning about different cultures
• Interacting with diverse groups
• Attending campus and community events
• Developing empathy

According to the Greater Good Magazine: Science Based Insights for a Meaningful Life there are six habits of highly empathetic people (HEP):

1. Cultivate Curiosity about Strangers: HEP strive to be naturally curious about the people who cross their path. They strike up conversations by asking questions that uncover their human experience. They look for opportunities to engage with others and learn more about them.
2. Challenge Prejudices and Uncover Commonalities: It is a natural tenancy to categorize people, but HEP look to challenge their own assumptions by focusing on how they are like others.
3. Try Another Person’s Life: HEP look for ways they can experience life from another person’s perspective by spending time living in the same environment through activities like volunteering, attending cultural events, or going to a different church.
4. Listen Hard and Open Up: By listening for what’s really important and making themselves vulnerable, HEP connect with others about what is really important about what they believe and experience.
5. Inspire Mass Action and Social Change: HEP understand that empathy can inspire action for the greater good.
6. Develop an Ambitious Imagination: A big imagination helps HEP move beyond empathizing comfortably to challenging themselves to empathize with people who hold opposite beliefs or whom they consider an enemy. In doing so, they develop tolerance and create strategies for discussing issues.

As you watch the following video think about how quick judgement got in the way of communication. How did the characters in the video problem-solve to communicate?

Communication Strategies for Effective Interactions

The groups we belong to give us a sense of belonging and identity in the world and at the same time can encourage us to develop an us versus them mentality. If we focus on who is in the group and who is out, we may find ourselves stereotyping those not in the group with us. It is part of being human to organize people into groups to help us better understand the world (men and women, teacher and student, old and young, for example), but we need to step back from those categories to be sure we are not exaggerating the differences and forming stereotypes about members of different groups. Stereotyping and discrimination can be especially harmful when one group has more privilege than another.

Watch the following video and reflect on the messages delivered by the various individuals. What are your thoughts on the sentiments shared in this video?