By Sally Raskoff
How can we work to reduce bias and prejudice?
In past research we have seen that working together on a
common task with equal status reduces bias and prejudice. The film, American History X,
has a good example of that as the main characters work together in the prison
laundry and slowly get to know each other as human beings rather than as
members of different races about which they have strong opinions. Homeboy Industries, the Los
Angeles gang intervention program that Karen
Sternheimer has blogged about, includes former gang rivals working together
to eliminate conflict. However, considering the issues of confirmation
bias, where we seek out information that reinforces our pre-existing
beliefs, not to mention the
impracticality of setting up such situations, these might not always work to
reduce bias and prejudice. What else can we do?
National
Public Radio (NPR) science correspondent Shankar Vedantum recently
discussed an interesting study. University of Virginia professor Calvin Lai along
with a team of researchers, some affiliated with Harvard’s Project Implicit , studied eighteen strategies to
assess effectiveness in reducing racial bias.
They found education about injustice was not a particularly
effective method, nor was asking people to have empathy for others. The top
three most effective strategies involve more than one technique, suggesting
that multiple techniques must be used. These effective strategies do have one
thing in common; they all involve “counterstereotypical” images.
Observing images that are counter to what we expect to see,
based on societal biases, train us to see, perceive, and accept what those
images present. In the NPR interview, one of the researchers mentions that her
favorite image was that of a construction worker nursing her baby.
Later while out and about, I saw something that can also be
considered a counter stereotypical
image. I noticed a man who appeared to be
homeless; he has a number of bags filled with his belongings, he was wearing
dirty clothes. As he was standing on the sidewalk, he was getting warm and
proceeded to remove his shirt and shoes. He was also twirling a sign for a
nearby business and talking to two men getting into a Bentley in the parking
lot behind him.
I found it rather ironic that the business was selling
nutritional supplements while this man seemed to be both not the type of
customer they have nor a person whose own nutrition was adequate.
But I have found myself thinking about it often – fascinated
that a business would hire a homeless man to advertise for them. This type of
image or situation might help people to see that homeless people can and do
work.
What other counterstereotypical images have you noticed?
Confirmation bias can keep us from actually perceiving such things, but if we
start looking for them, we will find them.
I felt that this article was sociological for two reasons: First, it talked about biases and prejudices, which are largely based on class and status, two very important concepts in sociology. Second, the article talked about strategies to eliminate these things, which is a form of social change, something that sociologist study. Status and class are basically the different groups that people in societies naturally form and belong too, and the labels that people put on them. Prejudices and biases are nothing more than our believing that the labels are true, and that everyone in a group is the same. I firmly believed that if one generation simply changed what they told the children of the next generation as they grew up, then those prejudices could be completely eliminated. I do not, however, believe that will every actually happen, due to the strength of peoples belief in the labels.
I also felt drawn to this specific article because I have always believed that biases can cause people to conform to what they say, simply because they are told they are true. If a young African-American child grows up being told that they will amount to nothing more than a criminal, then they are almost certain to end up a criminal. Furthermore, even if that child is not a criminal, if they are ever in a questionable situation, that bias could cause another person, such as a police officer, to automatically assume that child is indeed a criminal, and arrest them for something they might not have done. There is a saying, “stereotypes exist for a reason”, and I have always thought that the reason they exist, is because people blindly believe them, and that if just one generation stopped believing them, then they would cease to exist.
I feel like the article has two reasons one is about biases and prejudices. Which are largely based on class and status two important concepts. The second article talks about strategies to eliminate these things which a form of social change.