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BIAS AND SELF-AWARENESS
As humans, we are constantly making judgments based on available information in order to survive. Some of those judgments involve categorizing people and places as “good” or “bad.” When we don’t have any available information—for example, we have not had any experience with that person or place—we might draw from our unconscious learnings from childhood, community, and the media, and make assumptions. These assumptions are often stereotypes or generalizations that have been allowed to propagate in society, and they are flawed. They tell a very narrow story. And they also reveal biases.
Implicit bias, sometimes called unconscious bias, refers to a preference someone holds but does not immediately acknowledge or see. All people have such biases; they do not necessarily mean that an individual is racist, sexist, ageist, or so on. However, in social work, biases can limit one’s ability to engage in ethical and culturally competent practice. It is therefore important to uncover these biases and interrogate them.
For this Journal, you take a brief test designed to reveal implicit biases and then reflect on the experience.
resources
To prepare:
· Review the Learning Resources on prejudice and implicit bias.
· Access the Harvard University Project Implicit site in the Learning Resources. Select an implicit bias test on social attitudes, and take it. few you may consider are: race, disability, age, sexuality, and religion.
· Reflect on your experience taking the implicit bias social attitudes test.
ASSIGNMENT BELOW
Submit a 1- to 2-page written journal focusing on themes of bias and self-awareness. Address the following:
· What was your experience of completing the implicit bias test? Which test did you choose, and why?
· What self-awareness themes have emerged so far in Week 1’s Discussion and this week’s activities?
· Identify a population that you are not comfortable with or would like to know more about; this could be a population represented by the implicit bias test you took, but it does not have to be.
· Why might you feel discomfort or want to know more about this population? Consider your origins of thought, socialization into your culture and family, and any biases you may have.
