Post From Tumblr How is taking an implicit bias test or being aware of my prejudices going to make m

[kyburg]

I do not know that taking a test or being aware of your bias on its own will make your life any better, but it does give you the opportunity to do something. I see that awareness as pretty important, as it is difficult to change what you do not acknowledge. Let me use myself as an example. A few years ago I discovered that I am much more likely to interrupt a woman than I am to interrupt a man. This surprised me because a) I did want to be doing that, b) I was not trying to do that, and c) it did not reflect my values, beliefs and aspirations. It is not ideal to interrupt people, but it becomes a different kind of problem when it falls on some more than others. Being aware of it allowed me to do something about it…doing something about it meant that I was doing a better job of being the person that I claimed to be, by more consistently delivering on my values, beliefs, and aspirations through my behavior. It also changed the lived experience of the people that interact with me. Each of us have to pick our battles, but I think this is an issue that matters greatly. I believe we could take a little better care of each other, we could make decisions based more on fact and less on fiction, we could have organizations, communities, institutions, and policies with fewer consequences for real or perceived identity. I believe  we have some obligation to be intentional about how we treat others. If we do not wish to be judged unfairly, then we have to do our fair share of work as well.    
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