Unrecognized Bias

          

           Today in class I learned that just about everyone is biased in ways that they don’t know themselves.  The class read a chapter of Malcolm Gladwell’s, “The Warren Harding Error,” an account of how a man was picked to be the President largely based upon his attractive physical appearance.  The story demonstrated how everybody judges everyone subconsciously, and that many of our interactions with others are motivated by this subconscious opinion.  What stood out to me personally was that I could have formed opinions on people that I didn’t even know I had, and it could be affecting how I treat them.

            This discovery of all the biases people have plays into how we select leaders.  Malcolm Gladwell says that most people that are elected for important positions “look like a Congressman.”  This suggests that many leaders we have today are picked partially because of their physical appearance.  I think that besides physical attractiveness, people should look for leaders that have a strong sense of justice and a willingness to adapt to the will of the group.  In an effort to limit your unconscious bias in making a decision, one should review the experiences that they have had that involve a bias.  Examining these experiences could help one recognize the stereotypes that are represented, making them easier to ignore.

            After reading this chapter, I took a test to reveal my own personal biases.  This test was called the IAT, and it provided some very interesting information about me.  I took the test pertaining to racial bias, and I was not incredibly surprised to find out that I have a moderate bias in favor of whites over blacks.  The reason that I am not all that surprised is that I realize that the society I was raised in taught me subconsciously to favor whites over blacks.  Stereotypes like this are present throughout all nations, and people should learn about how to limit their own bias.  All in all, the story coupled with the IAT test proved that people are biased in ways that even they themselves did not know.