{"id":41388,"date":"2025-04-03T04:37:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T11:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=41388"},"modified":"2025-04-03T12:10:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T19:10:56","slug":"what-bias-do-i-need-to-address-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-bias-do-i-need-to-address-now\/","title":{"rendered":"What Bias Do I Need To Address Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pragya Agarwal\u2019s book <em>Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em> reminded me of the time a few years ago when I took the Implicit Association Test (IAT) from Harvard\u2019s Project Implicit. With my conviction that all people are created in the image of God and are equally worthy of love and life, I thought I would achieve neutrality. Instead, I received \u201cYour responses suggested a moderate automatic preference for European American people over African American people\u201d [1]. The insight was that even though I have this desire for and deeply-held belief in equality, I also carry some unconscious preferences or biases, which are vital to acknowledge and address.<\/p>\n<p>Agarwal\u2019s work explores the science behind the biases that people carry in life. \u00a0Her purpose in writing, as a behavioural and data-scientist, builds on her core work of cultivating stronger gender equity. The <span class=\"s1\">data works to gain insight for numerous biases other than gender that shape how information is shared, and received in human minds and systems. These include <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">i<\/span><span class=\"s1\">mplicit bias, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">confirmation bias, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">loss-aversion bias, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">hindsight bias, <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">gender, racial, accent, and attractiveness biases, as well as <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">ageism and <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">bias in technology. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"s1\">She then addresses the moral conundrum in Part 4 [2]. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">At this time in history, it is good to reflect on how our prejudices, likes, affinities, and disassociations from others reinforces a worldview that promotes tribalism with others who think, look and act \u201clike me\u201d. Acknowledging this, Agarwal proposes that this may be an evolutionary reflex helping us to survive, stating \u201cOur unconscious biases could therefore be seen as adaptive mechanisms\u201d [3].<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But in looking beyond evolutionary shaping, her point is well taken that this cultural moment seems to feed bias. She writes,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"s1\">As we move increasingly towards a tech- and data-driven society and communicate largely via social media channels, an understanding of our echo chambers, groupthink and filter bubbles becomes crucial. This will help us understand how our implicit biases shape the way information is now being shared, what information we trust, and how the way we create content and spread it reinforces the systemic biases that are entrenched in our society [4].<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I will explore Agarwal\u2019s argument for the unconscious mental processes, and then conclude with some reflections on de-biasing.<\/p>\n<p>Agarwal credits Anthony Greenwald for introducing implicit bias in 2006, which \u201crefuted the long-standing belief that humans are guided solely by explicit beliefs and by their conscious intentions\u201d [5]. What does guide these biases, she continues, is what is colloquially known as \u2018gut feeling\u2019 &#8211; <span class=\"s1\">where we use emotions to make snap decisions [6]. \u00a0This comes from \u2018dual process theory\u2019, where <\/span><span class=\"s1\">System 1 is the unconscious reasoning, and <\/span><span class=\"s1\">System 2 is the more rational and logical system [7]. This theory explains \u201chow we often can\u2019t tell exactly which rule our intuition is using\u201d, especially when \u201c<\/span><span class=\"s1\">we are rushed, stressed and relying on gut instinct (which is automatic and subconscious), [amd] there is no time to deploy the slower and more deliberate System 2\u201d [8]<\/span><span class=\"s1\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Psychologist \/ Economist Daniel Kahneman, in his framing of the two systems in\u00a0<em>Thinking: Fast and Slow<\/em>, personifies this battle between the two systems as between \u201cthe experiencing self and the the remembering self\u201d [9]. The formation of stereotypes and biases are like habits, based on our experiences, and not on our underlying rational thoughts and beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>My beliefs are strong. For instance, I want my life to align with Jesus\u2019 manifesto: \u201c\u2018The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord\u2019s favour.\u2019\u201d \u202d\u202d(Luke\u202c \u202d4\u202c:\u202d18\u202c-\u202d19\u202c) But I may have stereotypes that I must address if I am to draw near to people living with these dynamics.<\/p>\n<p>The recognition of bias must never become an excuse for shoulder-shrugging apathy. Instead, naming biases helps to indicate what may require active intervention, so that unconscious prejudices, preferences, or disassociations can be what Agarwal calls \u201cde-biased\u201d [10].<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">Agarwal proposes that we work towards de-biasing by adopting \u201ca three-pronged approach of de-automatization, perspective-taking and active denigration\u201d [11]. I liken this to fighting to raise the image-bearing of God in another person. Whatever bias emerges must become a \u201cthought that is taken captive\u201d, a phrase used by the Apostle Paul when his own leadership motives were misjudged (2 Corinthians 10:5). Two verses later, he would invite others to \u2018stop judging by appearances\u2019 (10:7). This is the pathway to a flourishing society. But it will require slowing down, accessing System 2 in the brain, and forming new habits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>_______<\/p>\n<p>[1] <span class=\"s1\">\u201cTake a Test.\u201d n.d. Accessed March 27, 2025. https:\/\/implicit.harvard.edu\/implicit\/takeatouchtest.html.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[2] Pragya Agarwal, <\/span><span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias<\/em>, <\/span><span class=\"s1\">(Bloomsbury Sigma Series. London\u202f; New York: Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[3] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway, <\/em><\/span>44.<\/p>\n<p>[4] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway,<\/em> <span class=\"s1\">407.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[5] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway,<\/em> <\/span>16.<\/p>\n<p>[6] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway,<\/em> 29.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[7] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway,<\/em> 29.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[8] System 1 is \u201c<span class=\"s1\">mostly involuntary and often independent of working memory \u2013 which means that we don\u2019t have time to exercise our cognitive rational thinking. It is rapid, more subjective, and value-, context- and domain-specific\u201d.<\/span> <em>Sway<\/em>,\u00a029, 30.<\/p>\n<p>[9] <span class=\"s1\">Daniel Kahneman, <\/span><span class=\"s2\"><em>Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>,<\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u00a0(Doubleday Canada, 2011), intro.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[10] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway,<\/em> 413.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[11] <span class=\"s2\"><em>Sway, <\/em><\/span>413.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pragya Agarwal\u2019s book Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias reminded me of the time a few years ago when I took the Implicit Association Test (IAT) from Harvard\u2019s Project Implicit. With my conviction that all people are created in the image of God and are equally worthy of love and life, I thought I would achieve neutrality. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3441],"class_list":["post-41388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agarwal-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41394,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41388\/revisions\/41394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}