Psychologist Says Most People Are Not Upfront About Being Biased
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Not many people are as biased as Archie Bunker of TV's All in the Family, but a psychologist says he was upfront about it. Most of us are not, even to ourselves.
Mahazrin Banaji is biased and proud of it. She loves her Red Sox, but the Harvard psychologist and co-author of Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People says just as you might never know you have high blood pressure without getting tested, learning of your hidden preconceptions is a path to self-improvement.
The book, Kindle edition and website implicit.harvard.edu, use the Implicit Association Test to strain your brain for bias.
"There are lots of questions that you might be asked about, you know, how do you feel about this group of that because we like to compare. We want to compare what you say you feel, how you really regard people of a certain group and then what the test result shows, and it's the difference between the two that becomes interesting," Banaji explains.
She says, once you know your biases, you're free to keep them or correct them.
For more information visit: implicit.harvard.edu.
