Table of contents:
- What is implicit bias?
- Why does implicit bias occur?
- How does it affect everyday life?
- Reducing implicit bias towards others
- 1. Educate yourself
- 2. Get to know someone regardless of their background
- 3. Change your point of view
In contrast to explicit biases that are clearly seen and done on purpose, implicit bias occurs silently and without you knowing it too. Implicit bias is not only limited to matters of racial differences, but also religion, gender, gender, age, or where people live.
What is implicit bias?
Efrén Pérez, a professor of political science, in his book entitled "Unspoken Politics: Implicit Attitudes and Political Thinking”, Defines implicit bias or implicit bias as a set of actions, beliefs, knowledge and stereotypes that a social group has and can influence what we do and say without realizing it.
More specifically, the word implicit also means the thoughts and feelings you have are only implied. Then, bias occurs when you have a preference for a certain person or group. So, you unconsciously treat other people according to the stereotypes they have.
For example, a person tends to have more friends who are from the same tribe, the reason is because he feels more comfortable with these friends than friends from other tribes. Such preferences are unspoken and only felt in the heart, making them implicit.
Everyone is susceptible to implicit bias. However, these biases often do not coincide with the beliefs you have or reflect where you stand.
Why does implicit bias occur?
Generally, implicit bias has been acquired since a person was still at an early age and developed as an adult, either through exposure to direct or indirect messages. Mostly, implicit bias stems from the inculcation of a positive tendency towards one's own group.
There are also those who have a bias because they are accustomed to the advice or advice from their parents for certain groups. Exposure to the media and news can also create implicit stereotypes.
In addition, implicit bias is also influenced by the workings of the human brain. Our brains are always working to look for patterns and relationships between one thing and another, the goal is to facilitate acceptance of information about many people in social situations.
After that, the brain, which is driven by mental shortcuts, simplifies it by breaking the information into groups to make it easier to sort it out.
How does it affect everyday life?
Implicit bias can have both positive and negative effects. However, both can have a harmful effect on how one person behaves in another and influence decision making.
The human mind can work at two levels, one functions rationally and deliberately (explicitly), while the other works intuitively and automatically (implicitly). The two of them are not completely alone.
The level of consciousness can work by referring to information obtained from the human subconscious, making it the basis for actions taken. Because of this, a person may feel that he is doing something that is not harmful, but without knowing his actions have hurt someone else.
One of the effects of implicit bias can be seen in some cases such as how health professionals treat their patients.
From a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, a doctor who tends to dominate conversations with black patients makes patients feel insecure and reluctant to seek treatment. Of course, this can have an impact on the patient's health condition.
In addition, the stigma attached to people with certain health problems also affects the way others treat them.
For example, a person may change his view of a friend who is experiencing psychological problems and becomes a little bit shy because he is afraid of being hit by the same thing, even though he knows he shouldn't think about it.
Reducing implicit bias towards others
Even though it's human, that doesn't mean you can just ignore it. As noted earlier, you may have committed acts that unknowingly offended the other person. So that this does not happen, here are steps you can take to reduce it.
1. Educate yourself
Granted, most people don't know that they have an implicit bias. Because you are often pushed unconsciously, it can be difficult to find out for yourself any implicit bias towards which group you belong to.
To find out, you can do a test called the Implicit Association Test which will show your propensity towards something. After getting the results, ask yourself what made you act this way and what made you uncomfortable about a group or individual.
Then, look for all the information you need to reduce your bias. Often times, ignorance can be the thing that gets you wrong in acting.
2. Get to know someone regardless of their background
Approach vulnerable individuals with the stereotypes that surround you. Recognize them as individuals who have their own personalities. Try to expand your friendship to get more perspectives from other people. This step can be an effective way to reduce the perception of certain stereotypes of others.
3. Change your point of view
Look at the problem from the other person's point of view. What if you were in their shoes and what would you do if you got an unpleasant treatment. With this, at the same time you will also learn to be more empathetic to other people.
