We all have implicit biases. So what can we do about it? | Dushaw Hockett | TEDxMidAtlanticSalon

00:12:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKHSJHkPeLY

Summary

TLDRThe presentation emphasizes the inadequacy of the current approach to racial and societal differences, suggesting a need to address implicit bias. Implicit biases are subconscious and can conflict with one's conscious values, often leading to behaviors that contradict stated beliefs. The argument stresses the necessity of recognizing these biases, which scientific studies have explored extensively, to move towards a society that aligns actions with egalitarian values. Furthermore, addressing implicit bias can prevent unconscious discrimination, offering a way to change how societal issues of race and difference are perceived and managed. By focusing on implicit bias, individuals and institutions can move from reactive to more preventive measures, essentially treating the root rather than the symptom. The speaker calls for personal and societal change, advocating for internal work to achieve external transformation.

Takeaways

  • 🧠 Implicit bias is subconscious and affects behavior.
  • 🔄 It often contradicts our conscious beliefs.
  • 💡 Awareness of implicit bias is crucial for societal change.
  • 🛠 Implicit bias requires different tools than explicit bias.
  • ⚖️ Aligning actions with beliefs is essential.
  • 🛡 A prevention approach to bias is needed.
  • 🌍 Implicit bias has broad societal impacts.
  • 🤝 Internal change fosters societal transformation.
  • 🔍 Biases can be revealed through Implicit Association Tests.
  • ❤️ Everyone needs someone irrationally crazy about them.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker argues that the current approach to addressing racial bias and other differences in the U.S. is inadequate. They highlight the importance of understanding implicit bias, which operates unconsciously and often contradicts one's stated beliefs and values. For example, a school admin may believe they support students but unintentionally harm them through biased actions. Implicit biases are triggered by automatic associations, influencing behavior without awareness.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:12:00

    Implicit bias is crucial for understanding and addressing societal issues of discrimination. The speaker notes that implicit bias gives a more comprehensive diagnosis and toolbox for addressing social disparities than explicit bias-focused approaches. Implicit bias can predict discriminatory behavior and suggests preventive strategies to reduce bias. Additionally, focusing on implicit bias helps reduce the shame associated with bias, shifting the conversation from "are you racist?" to "how can we align actions with egalitarian beliefs?" emphasizing internal change for societal impact.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is implicit bias?

    Implicit bias refers to subconscious prejudices or preferences that people carry, which can affect behaviors and decisions without conscious awareness.

  • Why is focusing on implicit bias important?

    Focusing on implicit bias provides a more comprehensive understanding of biases and allows for preventative measures rather than reactive responses.

  • How does implicit bias differ from explicit bias?

    Implicit bias operates subconsciously and can contradict one's conscious beliefs, whereas explicit bias is conscious and deliberate.

  • What are the characteristics of implicit bias?

    Implicit biases operate subconsciously, can contradict stated beliefs, and are triggered automatically through mental associations.

  • How can we address implicit bias?

    Through internal motivation, practice to reduce vulnerability, and engaging in preventive measures, implicit bias can be managed.

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  • 00:00:01
    I want to make an argument to you I want
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    to make a case to you and the argument
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    that I want to make is that the way that
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    we currently think about talk about and
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    act on issues of racial bias and other
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    lines of difference in this country is
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    woefully inadequate and it's incomplete
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    the way we think about talk about and
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    act on issues of racial bias and other
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    lines of difference in this country is
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    woefully inadequate and it's incomplete
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    and in making this case I want to build
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    on the very robust and compelling
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    evidence that has been coming out of the
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    science community for the past ten plus
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    years that suggests that if we want to
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    move to a radically different place a
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    radically better place on issues of race
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    and difference in this country we have
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    to pay attention to something called
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    implicit bias so what is implicit bias
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    Oprah Winfrey has talked about it
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    Malcolm Gladwell has written about it
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    normally we say when Oprah is talking
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    about it and Malcolm is writing about it
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    everybody knows about it which isn't
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    always the case so a bias is a
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    preference for or a prejudice against a
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    person or a group of people there are
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    three characteristics that make a bias
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    implicit characteristic number one
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    implicit biases operate at the
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    subconscious level outside of conscious
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    awareness we don't know that we have
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    them and they can't be accessed through
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    introspection in other words the science
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    of implicit bias says that none of us
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    can sit here in this room right now
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    scratch our heads and wonder out loud do
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    I have a bias against men against women
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    against black people against white
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    people against immigrants and expect to
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    accurately answer that question because
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    the nature of an implicit
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    vices such that we don't know that we
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    have them characteristic number two
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    implicit by C's oftentimes run contrary
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    contrary to our conscious stated beliefs
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    about who we are as human beings and
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    what our values are in other words the
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    science of implicit bias says that you
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    can be a school administrator and say
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    that you are deeply committed to
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    nurturing and building up young people
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    and yet be the same school administrator
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    who leads your school and high rates of
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    suspensions and expulsions of young
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    people and both of those things would be
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    true consciously you're deeply committed
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    to building young people up
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    unconsciously you're doing harm in the
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    process
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    the science of them quizzes by says that
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    you can be a law enforcement officer
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    deeply committed to the mantra that
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    appears on the side of police vehicles
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    that says what protect and serve and yet
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    be the same law enforcement officer who
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    leads your precinct or your district and
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    high rates of stops and frisks of young
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    men of color and both of those things
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    would be true consciously you're deeply
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    committed to the principles of
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    protecting and serving
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    unconsciously your behavior is
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    inconsistent with that the third
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    characteristic that makes a bias
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    implicit is that implicit biases are
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    triggered through rapid and automatic
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    meant to associations that we make
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    between people ideas and objects and
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    attitudes and stereotypes that we hold
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    about those people ideas and objects and
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    so case in point I want to do a quick
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    exercise around the power of meant to
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    associations so in a minute I'm gonna
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    flash a few words on the screen and what
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    I want to ask you to do is I want you to
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    quickly reflect on and/or call out the
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    associations that you make with those
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    words or that you believe the
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    aughter society makes with those words
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    and so this requires a little bit of
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    call-and-response so government
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    corporate suburbs subsidized housing so
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    the science of implicit bias would say
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    that those associations that you just
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    made those aren't mere verbal
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    associations those aren't mere mentor
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    associations the science says that there
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    are attitudes and behaviors that we
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    attach to those associations so imagine
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    if as part of my introduction I came out
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    here and I said my name is Dasha I want
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    to talk with you about something
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    innovative and I'm here representing
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    local government I used to work in
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    corporate America I was born and raised
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    and subsidized housing but I now live in
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    the suburbs of Alexandria Virginia
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    the science would suggests that for many
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    of you for those who said that your your
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    automatic mental association with
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    government is corrupt or your automatic
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    meant to association with corporate is
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    greed you would receive me through that
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    filter oftentimes at the unconscious
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    level and it would color for you every
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    single word that comes out of my mouth
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    so that's how implicit bias works these
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    rapid and automatic mental associations
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    that shape and mold behavior every
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    single day oftentimes in ways that we're
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    not even aware of oftentimes in ways
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    that do harm to others so there are
  • 00:06:35
    three reasons three reasons why focusing
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    on implicit bias at this particular
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    moment in time isn't
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    important and why I believe that a focus
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    on implicit bias to help move this
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    country forward so number one an
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    implicit bias focus gives us a much more
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    expansive diagnosis of the challenges
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    that we face in this country with
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    respect to difference what do I mean we
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    know from the work of esteemed scholars
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    Mazarin banaji and Anthony Greenwald
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    that a significant amount of the harm
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    being experienced and transmitted in
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    this country with respect to racial bias
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    and other lines of difference we know
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    that a significant amount of that harm
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    stems from implicit forms of bias in
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    addition to explicit forms of bias yet
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    the majority of the tools that we use
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    surged rest bias are designed to address
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    explicit forms not the implicit so in
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    essence what we have in this country is
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    a mismatch a disconnect between how we
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    diagnose challenges around difference in
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    how we treat them an implicit bias
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    approach gives us a much more expansive
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    diagnosis and a much more expansive
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    toolbox and my belief is that if we get
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    the diagnosis right we will get the
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    treatment right if we continue to get
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    the diagnosis wrong we will get the
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    treatment number two implicit bias is
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    both predictive and it's preventive
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    predictive in the sense that a person
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    can go to the website for project
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    implicit take any one of the online
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    implicit association test and receive a
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    test result that can serve as a
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    predictor of discriminatory behavior
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    it's preventive in a sense that there
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    are emerging and promising strategies
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    coming out of the science community that
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    suggests with internal motivation and
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    habitual practice we can do things to
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    reduce our vulnerability to act on our
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    biases and I believe that that is what
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    the country needs right now we need a
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    prevention approach
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    around issues of bias and difference
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    versus an emergency-room response right
  • 00:09:01
    now we have an emergency-room response
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    we wait for stuff to happen then we rush
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    to the emergency room
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    we need a prevention approach an
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    implicit bias gives us that lastly in
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    number three implicit bias where an
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    implicit bias approach helps to reduce
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    the shame and the shaming that's
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    associated with talking about and
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    addressing issues of bias often
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    researcher brené Brown draws an
  • 00:09:34
    interesting distinction between guilt
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    and shame
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    she says guilt says I made a mistake and
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    I can do something about it shame says I
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    am a mistake this is who I am
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    I'm a horrible human being there's
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    nothing I can do about it I'm gonna
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    always be this way and what I want to
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    submit to you is that my belief is that
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    one of the biggest challenges that we
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    have in this country and how we address
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    issues of bias is that we engage in self
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    shaming and if we're honest sometimes we
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    intentionally and unintentionally shame
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    others and my belief is that as long as
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    we continue to do that human beings
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    would never feel the motivation that
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    they need to do the self change work or
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    the broader societal change work that we
  • 00:10:30
    need to do an implicit bias approach
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    addresses this because it makes the
  • 00:10:35
    central question not are you racist or
  • 00:10:38
    not racist
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    are you sexist or not sexist an implicit
  • 00:10:42
    bias approach makes the central question
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    how do we get our actions and behaviors
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    how do we align our actions and
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    behaviors with our consciously held
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    egalitarian beliefs released for those
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    people who do hold egalitarian beliefs
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    and my belief is that many people do so
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    that
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    why this work is important at this
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    particular moment in time and in closing
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    I want to leave you with a quick idea
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    the late child psychologist Urie
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    bronfenbrenner once said that every
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    child needs at least one adult in his or
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    her life who is irrationally crazy about
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    him or her raise your hand if you've had
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    that at any point in your life and so
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    you know what it feels like my belief is
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    that not only does every child need that
  • 00:11:37
    but every human being needs at least one
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    of the human being in their life who is
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    irrationally crazy about him or her and
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    the only way that we're gonna have that
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    is if we do the internal change work
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    that we need to do to make the external
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    change work possible thank you very much
  • 00:11:55
    [Applause]
Tags
  • Implicit Bias
  • Racial Bias
  • Subconscious Prejudices
  • Awareness
  • Preventive Measures
  • Social Change