Hidden Biases

After looking over my results from this test it showed that I have a moderate preference for European Americans compared to African Americans. When looking at this data I am not very surprised by the outcome because in today’s society whites are more associated with good characteristics and blacks with bad ones so I think it was first nature for me to react in this way even though I feel that I do not have any bias towards one race over the other. Dating back to the days of slavery African Americans were always seen in a negative aspect and given the labels are lesser human beings associated with bad reputations. Now that slavery is over there are still the stereotypes for blacks that they are involved in gangs and crime laying a horrible image on their culture. I feel like this test cannot be an accurate interpretation of bias just by this game being played by everyone as it seems like most people will get similar results whether they have racist opinions or are neutral like I am.

When analyzing this page covering the stereotypes and prejudices that occur around the world every day, people have to understand that to have these stereotypes are much different than discriminating against others. People might have some opinions about race just because of how people are perceived in society, but there is a huge difference when people actually express their beliefs by singling out other races. This discrimination is all derived from the prejudices and stereotypes and are the building blocks that make people act on their opinions and discriminate against certain culture groups. As seen in the media people always try to exaggerate the truth and that is what starts all these stereotypes, prejudices, and biases, so after reading this page I have realized that the mass media is a vital piece to the reasoning of all these reputations for certain races. Hidden biases can make an impact on how I act because though I may not believe I have these biases, based on how things are perceived in the media and in society I naturally have these opinions and can force me to act in certain ways when being around these groups of people.

After taking this test from Harvard University it has given me insight to the reasons people are still so segregated today just like it was shown in the film “I Sit Where I Want”. In this film many students tried creating a movement to desegregate the seating arrangements in the lunchroom so that there were a variety of races sitting with each other instead of all the groups at the lunch table being separated by their race. The information I learned today has helped me discover why these people where not really able to make a change to who they sit with due to the hidden biases that everyone has. Since all the races where sitting with each other every year at lunch they felt more comfortable being around their race and since they didn’t know much about other races because of stereotypes they had if scared them away from trying to open up their horizons and interact with the other races. I think people need to try and block out all the stereotypes they have towards certain races and cultures and give them a chance because if you open up your opportunities and try to learn more about other cultures it can help eliminate the negative hidden biases and help to meet more people, creating a larger range of friends

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