Does this mean I’m racist?
"If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was in the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon." - George Aiken
Bias comes naturally to humans.
Stereotypes, whether you like it or not, weren’t always a bad thing. As it happens, stereotypes, or “snap judgements”, aren’t only necessary as a mechanism of survival - but have also proven rather advantageous to the human race. Our biological tendency to assess the people and things around us is the brain’s attempt to understand, or at least make sense of, what it doesn’t. If stereotypes are partly responsible for our evolution as a species (seeing as we’ve made it this far)… where along the way did they become synonymous with prejudice, stigma, and unsolicited judgment?
If you’re familiar with psychologist Jean Piaget, you may have also heard the term “schema”. Schemas provide a cognitive mental framework for our brains to classify and assimilate information as we receive it. In layman’s terms, when it comes to identifying what we don’t know, we’re hard-wired to make associations, both positive and negative, through our behavior and attitudes. We come from a multitude of cultures, informed and influenced by schemas within our environment that virtually appear in our minds as common sense when, in fact, they’re not. Our biases offer us the lens through which we interpret the world initially, and often filter out alternative views. Your conscious, or explicit biases are those which you are aware of… but what if I told you that your brain also developed biases without you knowing?
Check your Blindspot
The flip-side of the conscious coin is our implicit or, unconscious, bias. Think of it like a blindspot while driving a car - you may not be able to see it or know where it came from, but there’s no denying it exists if it’s there. In fact, The Supreme Court recognizes these “unconscious prejudices” as a cause of discrimination, “even without discriminatory intent.” Wait… what? Basically, our implicit bias is more of a natural instinct than it is a learned behavior, making the behaviors associated with implicit biases much more difficult to curb. I’m sure there’s plenty of people screaming at their computers as I say this but, yes Karen, you very well may be racist even if you explicitly speak against the idea. Remember: objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.
“What we say about ourselves, to ourselves and to others, is not consistent with what is happening internally,” according to the Stigma & Implicit Bias Toolkit. It turns out the principles and values we explicitly claim to live by, don’t always add up. It does beg one question… how do we know implicit bias is actually real if we’re so unaware of them? Consider the way we elect officials, who we choose to follow on social media, the charities we endorse, or the careers we aspire to. Your employee handbook likely has a non-discriminatory clause which may explicitly state equality for all who work there and thus, places a measure of prevention for that bias, but the existence of the bias is still implied; you can’t simply get rid of it without acknowledging its presence.
If you’re interested in exploring your own implicit biases (that you’re likely unaware of) is to take an implicit association test. The IAT measures the speed of our positive and negative associations to better detect biases we don’t realize we have. I implore you to try one of these assessments, it might surprise you - even if you choose to implicitly sweep it beneath the rug (again). However, if you do choose to observe them - those biases don’t necessarily mean you’re prejudiced, either. Strong, automatic biases are often cultural associations, like our tendency to associate peanut butter with jelly instead of guacamole; some things just don’t make sense when we try to put them together in our minds. Which brings us back to the evolutionary aspect of implicit bias, in order for it to remain advantageous as it pertains to the survival of the entire human race, maybe it’s time to adapt the system.
Stigma & Implicit Bias
Our brain's “short-cut” system of efficiently categorizing people, places, and things in our environment by way of heuristics can’t simply be dissolved or removed, it has to evolve. Think back to the outbreak of HIV in the eighties - the implicit fear of the unknown excluded a wealth of those who tested positive for the disease from receiving healthcare. Thankfully, we evolved, and no one died from sharing their drink with an HIV positive friend. More recently, studies demonstrated the increase of racism towards Asian cultures post-COVID - likely due to the repeated emphasis of the outbreak's origin in China. That didn’t stop the less informed majority from taking it out on literally any Asian ethnicity that appeared similarly to Chinese people. What I mean to say is, if you’re not picking up what I’m putting down - you’re a part of the problem.
The Network of Quality Improvement and Innovation Contractors state, “that healthcare physicians and nurses exhibit the same levels of implicit bias as the general population,” highlighting the racial and physical biases that healthcare staff implicate on a minority group’s character and quality as a whole, based on their experience with an individual patient. It doesn’t help that healthcare access is quite difficult to come by in our country and can adversely “increase bias in clinical encounters,” either. If you put all 10 fingers in the air right now, put one down if you’re not white, another if you suffer from substance use disorder, and don’t stop there… if you’re obese, have poor medical history, or little money in the bank, you’re likely down to one hand. This is where the cycle typically repeats itself.
It shouldn’t be any surprise that there’s little training offered to healthcare officials in effort to educate them on their implicit biases. Furthermore, why would anyone care if they’re not aware of it to begin with? Together we can make a big difference by playing a small part - it begins with generating that awareness.
Being the Impact
We all have to start somewhere. After all, before you knew what you know now… you knew nothing (take that, ego). We’re all walking datasets with loads of information, input by parts of our culture, the content we choose to inform us, and the conversations we have among our peers and colleagues. Starting the conversation might feel daunting today, but as we know from recovery, we keep taking the steps. Share this article with a friend to spark insightful discussion, take an IAT test, or simply start the research yourself - I promise you’ll learn something worthwhile in the process. Assuming what you don’t know makes an… you know what, nevermind. I wouldn’t want to make an ass(umption) for the sake of this argument, you know, since we’re evolving and all…
If you find yourself interested in learning more about implicit bias, stigma, and how to confront your own, please refer to the links below. As always, we are deeply grateful for your continued support. We do recover!
“Eliminating Stigma Toolbox.” IPRO NQIIC, IPRO NQIIC, qi.ipro.org/health-equity/stigma-toolbox/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2024. 