B IAS, P REJUDICE, & D ISCRIMINATION Is Objectivity a
Futile Objective?
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P LEASE A SK F OR C LARIFICATION !
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C ULTURAL P ERCEPTIONS Prompts Country of family origin and
heritage Languages spoken Interests and hobbies Favourite foods
Types of movies and TV programs preferred, if any Pets, if any, or
favourite animal
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C ULTURAL P ERCEPTIONS Debrief: a) How did it feel to have the
responsibility for making the assumptions? c) What insights does
this give us about the operating, unnamed biases? d) What are the
dilemmas of identifying/naming these distinctions? Of leaving them
silent?
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H ELPFUL OR H ARMFUL ? When is it harmful and when is it
helpful to treat an individual as a member of a particular social
group?
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D EVELOPING A C OMMON L ANGUAGE Bias Perspective Stereotype Set
Image Prejudice Pre-Judge Discrimination Differential Treatment
Systemic Discrimination Policies and Practices BELIEFS / ATTITUDES
BEHAVIOURS / ACTIONS
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O UR I MPLICIT AND U NCONSCIOUS B IAS
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Society has significant bias against non-dominant groups: We
absorb bias -- consciously and unconsciously People are unaware of
their implicit bias Our implicit bias informs/shapes/predicts our
behaviour Our implicit bias is less visible to ourselves Unlearning
unconscious bias is a constant project
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A F EW K EY C HARACTERISTICS OF I MPLICIT B IASES Implicit
biases are pervasive. Implicit and explicit biases are related but
distinct mental constructs. They do not necessarily align with our
declared beliefs Tendency to favor our own in-group Implicit biases
are malleable.
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I MPLICIT A SSOCIATION T EST (IAT) The IAT measures implicit
bias https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html Note: It
is NOT perfectly accurate!
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I MPLICATIONS FOR L EARNING & L IVING Can we get rid of
implicit associations? The answer is NO, and we wouldnt always want
to (flight mechanism!) The problem arises when we form associations
that contradict our intentions, beliefs, and values female with
weak; Muslim with terrorist; or black with criminality; The skew
and acceptance toward in-groups (who have assets) and exaggerated
difference and disdain towards out-groups (who have deficits)
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L ANGUAGE & P ERCEPTION
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W HAT C OLOUR ( S ) D O Y OU S EE ?
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Russian English Vietnamese Goluboi Siniy Salatoviy Zelioniy
BlueBlue Green Green XanhXanh Xanh Xanh
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English Piraha OneTwo Ten Twenty OneMany Many Many
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Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Linguistic Determinism)
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Elle est contente. Il est content. D OES L ANGUAGE S HAPE H OW
W E P ERCEIVE P EOPLE ?
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occhiolism n. the awareness of the smallness of your
perspective, by which you couldnt possibly draw any meaningful
conclusions at all, about the world or the past or the complexities
of culture, because although your life is an epic and unrepeatable
anecdote, it still only has a sample size of one, and may end up
being the control for a much wilder experiment happening in the
next room. adronitis n. frustration with how long it takes to get
to know someone spending the first few weeks chatting in their
psychological entryway, with each subsequent conversation like
entering a different anteroom, each a little closer to the center
of the house wishing instead that you could start there and work
your way out, exchanging your deepest secrets first, before easing
into casualness, until youve built up enough mystery over the years
to ask them where theyre from, and what they do for a living. T HE
D ICTIONARY OF O BSCURE S ORROWS