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The Harmful Effect of Unconscious Bias

People are imperfect creatures. Our upbringings, social histories, and past experiences create and shape our biases. To avoid being biased is to attempt to avoid being a person. Even when we believe that our biases can be "positive," they can still serve to be harmful to others.

What is most interesting about biases is that they can be present without you realizing it. Those are the worst kinds of biases—unconscious biases. The problem with unconscious bias is the lack of awareness. An individual cannot fix a problem if there is no awareness that the problem exists. Sometimes we cannot combat biases because we do not know that we hold them. In this discussion, you will analyze the harmful effects of unconscious biases on three different types of culture—race and ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation.

Instructions

In your initial post to this discussion:

• Describe a typical work scenario based on your psychology specialization. For example, if your specialization is clinical psychology, a typical work situation may be providing therapy to a group of low-income pregnant mothers. Make sure that your scenario includes a person of a different race and ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation from your own.
  • How might you unknowingly convey prejudice, bias, and discrimination in that situation?
  • How do power and privilege factor into the situation you described?
  • What do you need to do to make sure you avoid this kind of situation as much as possible?