Habit, bias, and blindspots

When I was growing up, I often heard the same questions from my classmates - Do you use chopsticks at home? Do you eat rice every day? Do your parents own a restaurant? Do you speak Chinese? (Answers: Rarely, usually, no, no.) I don't think these kids realized they were imposing a cultural stereotype on me. The stereotype may have been absorbed through ads like the Calgon Chinese laundry commercial and other inaccurate depictions of Chinese Americans. I don't know if they consciously knew they were being racist, but these biases have a way of infiltrating our minds. If we never stop to question them and learn otherwise, they remain firmly rooted, and out of the heart the mouth speaks.

In You Are What You Love, James K.A. Smith uses stereotypes as an example of how we learn, not through conscious thought, but by habit.

Stereotypes are just this sort of unconscious, habituated way of perceiving the world and acting accordingly. No one "signs up" to hold prejudiced stereotypes. Instead, they seep into us unawares, acquired unintentionally and yet, over time, become habits of perceptions - automatictiies - that govern and guide our behavior. (pg. 57)

Forty years ago, it was more accepted to ask tactless questions about chopsticks and Chinese laundries. Today it is much less socially acceptable, but do these biases still exist?

I just borrowed Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald. According to these authors, biases are "bits of knowledge about social groups" that may have a positive or negative association. These biases are acquired by habit and repeated exposure and may influence us toward members of a particular social group. In today's climate, no one wants to admit they are biased, and we may not even realize we have them. Hence the title of the book - Blindspot. Then how can we be made aware of something we are blind to?

Greenwald developed a series of tests called the Implicit Association Test (IAT) that does not ask explicit questions but times the response to words and pictures associated with different social groups and categories (positive/negative, science/humanities, work/home.) The theory is that this will tap into subconscious connections. For example, I took the test on the association of men vs.women with the sciences vs. the humanities. Statistically most people associate men with science. Before I took the test, I predicted that my result would be an equal association of men and women with science. But my result was a slight association of women with science and men with humanities. I can't remember if this was only 6% or 2% of respondents, but definitely an outlier. I was surprised, but my daughter said it made perfect sense. I grew up in a family of female scientists. I also studied and worked in STEM. All the books I've read in the humanities during the past decade were mostly written by men.

Blindspot specifically discusses racial bias, but the authors distinguish between an implicit association vs. prejudicial behavior. There isn't always a 1:1 correlation. However, dormant biases may result in inequitable treatment depending upon positive vs. negative associations. Being aware of our biases to begin with may help us consciously consider our actions and words. We may then be able to stop or change what we say or do.

To go back to women in science, one example of bias is often seen in women being cited less in papers and lower publication rates. (Not to mention the imbalance in recognition for the Nobel prize.) One male physicist was even dismissed from CERN after making sexist remarks about the ability of women to do physics. I can understand the prejudice when Marie Curie was beginning her research generations ago, but this should be unacceptable today.

Blindspot is a secular book, but it has helped me to be more aware of what is lurking below the surface. As a Christian, I don't think unconscious bias makes me less accountable. While I have no control over the culture and its messages, I am accountable for what I expose myself to. I am accountable for my complacency. I am also accountable to the 2nd greatest commandment because stereotyping is not loving my neighbor as myself. It also ties back to the greatest commandment because I am not honoring God when I lazily lump his image bearers into a group and treat them according to group, not their individual humanity. Rather, being aware of my biases puts this verse in a new and very practical light:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Ps. 19:14