We are more Biased than we think of

We are more Biased than we think of...

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I want to live being kind to others

I want to live being good to them

I want to live friendly and considerate to the people around me

Despite of wanting to live the way I have stated above, I have realized that I was not.

We all are not

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I have realized this one day as I go to work. I am being unbiased with some of the people that I have passed or encounter by.

I used to commute as I go to work, riding bus and jeepney was my daily routine.

Unconsciously I am being bad or better to say I am being BIASED with some of my fellow commuters.

Whenever I saw a man that have a lot of tattoo and not dressed well (the typical image of a drug addict in the Philippines) I tend to keep my belongings inside my bag and guard it. I do not want to think of them as a bad person but my mind automatically have this actions.

I also have the same actions whenever I go to the ATM and same kind of person was behind me.

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With these realization I try to have a research in the internet on the odd behavior most of us have been acting, and I have found these:

Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias) are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing (https://diversity.ucsf.edu)

Research suggests that we instinctively categorize people and things using easily observed criteria such as age, weight, skin color, and gender. But we also classify people according to educational level, disability, sexuality, accent, social status, and job title, automatically assigning presumed traits to anyone we subconsciously put in those groups (https://www.mindtools.com)

Judging others and being afraid to be judged by others seems to be somewhat natural, right? (https://www.learning-mind.com)

“Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. We imagine we are good decision makers, able to objectively size up a job candidate or a venture deal and reach a fair and rational conclusion that’s in our, and our organization’s, best interests,” writes Harvard University researcher Mahzarin Banaji in Harvard Business Review. “But more than two decades of research confirms that, in reality, most of us fall woefully short of our inflated self-perception.” (https://www.fastcompany.com)

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Upon doing my research I have found out that we are being unbiased in many different ways and/or categories. We are being unbiased upon categories like age, race, nationality, gender, skin color and many more. Upon my research, this were some scenarios that was and might be happening:

• Not believing to a person that he can do something because he was still young (Many of us have thinking that some young kids cannot do things that grown ups can)
• Thinking unconsciously that a skinny person is not healthy and is a drug addict
• Thinking that if a person is an Asian, he/she is good in mathematics
• Male excel in logical thinking and female were more emotional
• Disabled or Special people cannot live on their own
• People who are from a prestige school excel more than of those who are from a local or not prestige school
• Ex-convicts cannot change and live a good life anymore

Listed above where some of the scenarios that I think is happening all through out the world. If you can think of some scenarios where unconscious biased were being portrayed kindly leave it in the comment box. I would like to read those and try to avoid.

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Having this realized, I am ashamed to myself. I wanted to live being fair to all, I wanted to live being kind as possible, I wanted to be considerate to others but I now have realized that I am not living the way I wanted to be.

With this realization, being aware of this unconscious thinking and actions I think I can now try to live the way I wanted to be

Now that we are now aware of our unconsious actions, we can start change avoid those kinds of thinking. We can now stop judging the persons that we are encountering into our normal life.

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References

• https://www.mindtools.com
• https://diversity.ucsf.edu
• https://www.fastcompany.com
• https://www.learning-mind.com

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About the Author

@aguadz, known as Zai in the real world was a Fish Lover, a Cat Lover, a Self proclaimed Writer, Poet and Programmer.
An Introvert who uses Steem/Steemit to make a trademark of himself in the blockchain allowing him to stay alive forever.

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