Jennifer Eberhardt - Biased; Uncovering the hidden prejudices that shape our Reality (EN) - video Dailymotion

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Transcript

00:00Today, we're diving deep into the hidden world of prejudice, using Dr. Jennifer L. Eberhardt's

00:05groundbreaking book, Biased, as our guide. We're going to uncover some of those subtle,

00:09often invisible forces that don't just shape what we think, but how our entire world is put

00:14together. And that motto? Well, that's exactly what we're going to do right now. We're taking

00:19the complex, sometimes uncomfortable topic of implicit bias, and we're going to break it down,

00:24make it understandable, by looking at how it works, where it comes from, and most importantly,

00:29what on earth we can do about it. So by the end of our time together, you'll have a much clearer

00:35picture of what implicit bias actually is. You'll see how it can show up in some really critical

00:40moments. We'll trace its roots back in history, and then we'll get practical and look at what we can

00:45actually start doing to address it. Okay, so here's our game plan. We've got six parts to this journey.

00:50We'll kick things off with a pretty surprising personal story. Then we'll look at the life or

00:53death side of bias. After that, we dive into the science, trace the history, see how it affects us

00:58every day. And finally, we'll talk about the path forward. So let's start with a story that

01:02really shows how bias can pop up in the most unexpected and, you know, the most innocent of

01:07moments. Dr. Eberhardt tells this story about being on a flight with her five-year-old son.

01:13Another black man gets on the plane, and her son, who is also black, leans over and whispers to her,

01:19I hope that man doesn't rob the plane. Now, the man looked nothing like a robber,

01:23but for her son, that troubling connection was just there. And that just begs the question,

01:29right? How does a five-year-old boy who has a black father that he loves make an association

01:35like that? It's not about him being a bad kid at all. It's about the patterns our brains quietly

01:40soak up from the world all around us, often without us even noticing. Okay, so we've seen it in a child's

01:47words. Now let's turn to situations where these unconscious associations have absolutely devastating

01:53consequences. In high-pressure fields like law enforcement, these split-second judgments can

01:58literally be the difference between life and death. Just think about the tragic case of 12-year-old

02:04Tamir Rice. He was playing with a toy gun in a park. The officer who shot him made that fatal decision

02:10in just two seconds. Two. The patrol car hadn't even fully stopped. It just shows the terrifying

02:17speed at which a biased perception of threat can completely take over. And then you have the case

02:22of Terrence Crutcher. His car stalled on a road in Oklahoma. The officer who shot him later said she

02:28was afraid for her life. But here's the thing. Crutcher was unarmed. His hands were in the air.

02:34This really shows the massive gap that bias can create between a perceived threat and actual

02:40reality. The fear was real to the officer, but it was a fear born from bias, not from any actual

02:47danger. So if bias can lead to these terrible outcomes, why do our brains even work this way?

02:53Let's get into the science of it, because it's not really a moral failing. It's, well, it's a feature

02:58of how our minds try to handle an incredibly complex world. You know, this idea of stereotypes

03:04isn't new. The term was coined by a journalist named Walter Lippmann way back in 1922, and he

03:10described them perfectly as the pictures in our heads. Think about it. Our brains are hit with a

03:16fire hose of information every second. To cope, they create these mental shortcuts, these categories.

03:22And stereotypes are basically those subjective pictures we use to represent a much more complicated

03:27reality. And once we have those pictures in our heads, this really powerful thing called

03:32confirmation bias kicks in. We naturally start looking for evidence that proves what we already

03:37think is true, and we tend to ignore or just dismiss anything that challenges it. It creates

03:42this feedback loop that doesn't just keep our biases in place. It actually makes them stronger

03:47over time, until they start to feel like undeniable facts. But here's the good news. This is the hopeful

03:52part. Dr. Eberhardt makes it really clear that our brains aren't these fixed, hardwired machines.

03:57Thanks to what we know about neuroplasticity, the brain is actually malleable. It can change. It can

04:02rewire itself based on our experiences. And what that means is, if our brains can learn by us, they

04:08can also learn to counteract it. So where do these pictures in our heads even come from? Well, they

04:15aren't random. They're often inherited, passed down through our culture, and a lot of them are rooted in

04:20deep and, frankly, pretty painful history. Dr. Eberhardt's research digs into how 19th century

04:26scientific racism—and I'm using air quotes there—created these racial hierarchies. Famous

04:32scientists of the day, guys like Samuel George Morton and Louis Agassi, used their authority to push

04:37really dehumanizing ideas. They're the ones who created this damaging and incredibly persistent

04:42association between Black people and apes. And this wasn't some fringe theory. This was mainstream

04:47science, and it left a stain on our culture that we're still dealing with today.

04:51All right, so that's the history. Let's fast forward to right now, because these same unconscious

04:56associations have very real, very tangible effects on decisions we all make every single day.

05:02Let's talk about housing for a second. In one study that Dr. Eberhardt talks about,

05:07people were shown an identical house. But when they were told that Black families lived in the

05:11neighborhood, their estimate of the home's value dropped by an average of $22,000.

05:15Let that sink in. Just the idea of Black neighbors was enough to change its financial value. That is

05:23bias with a literal price tag. Or how about getting a job? Studies show that applicants of color often

05:29do something called resume whitening. They may change a name that sounds ethnic or take off experiences

05:34that are clearly linked to their racial identity, just like in this example. And why do they do it?

05:38Because they know that those little markers can trigger bias and get their resume thrown in the trash

05:42before anyone even gives it a fair look. And you might think, well, technology is different.

05:47But it's really not. Platforms like Airbnb and Nextdoor, which were built to connect people,

05:52have had to face this head on. Airbnb found that hosts were discriminating against guests

05:56just based on their names. On Nextdoor, racial profiling and posts about suspicious activity

06:01became a massive problem. It's proof that our same old human biases are just finding new ways to show up

06:07in the digital world. So after hearing the history, the science, the real world impact,

06:13yeah, it can all feel pretty heavy. But Dr. Eberhardt's work is ultimately hopeful.

06:18Realizing you have bias is the first step. It's not the end of the story. It's something we can learn

06:22to manage. Dr. Eberhardt uses this fantastic analogy to explain it. She talks about a family

06:28trip to Jamaica where you drive on the left side of the road. Her husband, who'd driven in America his

06:33whole life, kept instinctively looking for the wrong way for oncoming traffic. His brain was just

06:37on autopilot. And that, she says, is exactly how bias works. It's a set of reflexive, unconscious

06:43choices. But here's the key. Just like you can consciously learn to look the other way and drive

06:49on the other side of the road, you can learn to consciously override your biases. All right,

06:54so let's tie this all together. What have we learned? First, bias is just a normal part of being

07:00human. It's not some deep character flaw. Second, it works under the radar, shaping what we see and

07:07do. Third, its consequences can be incredibly severe, especially in high-stakes situations.

07:14And fourth, and this is the most important part, we are not powerless. We have the ability to notice

07:20our own biases and deliberately work to reduce their impact. And that really leaves us with this

07:25final critical question. The goal isn't to pretend we don't have biases, because guess what? We all

07:31do. The real challenge and the real opportunity is to be honest about them. So the question isn't

07:36if you're biased, it's what are you going to do about it? This whole exploration was based on the

07:41incredible work cited right here. We absolutely recommend picking up Dr. Everhart's book if you

07:46want to go even deeper. Thank you so much for joining us.

Jennifer Eberhardt - Biased; Uncovering the hidden prejudices that shape our Reality (EN)

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