Sorry folks but it turns out we are all a little racist. I’m not proud of it, but that happens to be the case. Let me explain.
There is a group called Project Implicit (founded by 3 scientists at Harvard) that set out to study the biases that we all hold. What they discovered was quite interesting.
Playing The Race Card
They set up a simple experiment to learn more about racism. They had 4 groups of cards, two referring to race (white and black) and two referring to morality (good or bad). Subjects were first asked to pair the white and good cards and black and bad cards. They were then asked to reverse the order and pair white with bad and black with good. The experiment showed that it was more challenging for participants to pair white with bad and black with good. Kind of strange right? I thought so as well.
The Brain Can Be Dumb
In cases like memory recall it works by pairing similar objects together. When I say peanut butter what do you think of? There’s a good chance that the thought “jelly” arose in your mind. This is an example of “compartmentalization”. The brain does this to store and recall things more efficiently.
The Reality Of Racism
Now that we know how the brain works the findings of the experiment become a bit more interesting. Was it more challenging to pair white with bad because we truly believe that white is right and black is bad? If you look at our culture you can see similar stereotypes throughout a variety of our expression. Look at our Disney fairy tales, every princess is shrouded in white clothing (and white skinned) while the “evil monsters” are often dark and scary. This white/black dichotomy is something that we are exposed to from a very young age, it’s no wonder the experiment showed the results that it did.
Beliefs Into Behavior
Some folks at the University of Colorado wanted to take this a bit further and see how our beliefs impacted our behavior. They created a simple video game a series of pictures would flash on the screen. Then, after a random amount of time, someone would appear on your screen with either a handgun or a cell phone/wallet. You could shoot the subject or not. They discovered that participants were more likely to shoot unarmed black men then white. It turns out our beliefs DO impact our behavior.
You Have The Power
Not willing to leave any card unturned, the folks at University of Colorado took it one step further and requisitioned the Denver Police Department for further testing. They had active duty police officers play the game to see if they would behave differently … and it turns out they did. Even though most, if not all of the officers held the same implicit belief system, they were able to triumph over their biases and performed in an objective manner (yay for police training). However, it is important to note that when they had cognitive deficits (lack of sleep, external distraction) this improvement in processing was diminished.
Am I A Racist??
Now that you know this information, what will you do with it? Well I know when I first became aware of the fact that I was biased (if not down right racist) it made me feel rather upset with myself. I prided myself on being open minded and treating people fairly, yet I still held these unhealthy beliefs. So, I made the decision that I hope you all will make, I decided to change my beliefs.
Change Takes Effort
It’s quite simple actually, and here’s how you can do it.
I call it the AAA of life.
- Acknowledge
- Accept
- Adjust
When you notice that you are acting or even just perceiving things in a way you disagree with, start by acknowledging the fallacy.
Next, accept that you have this belief and do your best experience it without judgement or blame (if you are beating yourself up about it you are less likely to make positive change).
Lastly, try adjusting your belief.
- Imagine a scenario where you feel/see things differently.
- Change your inner dialogue by telling yourself a different story.
- Adjust your feeling through meditation or breath work.
Anytime you create an intentional input you will start to adjust the belief. Over time you can completely dismantle the belief and replace it with something that is more conducive to your well-being.
Be The Change You Want To See
Hopefully you have learned something from this post. My goal was not to bad mouth anyone but rather bring light to an issue that most of us are unaware of. If you are feeling brave, try taking one of the tests at Project Implicit (link). They are rather interesting and will allow you to learn more about yourself. Remember folks, don’t beat yourself up about this. These beliefs are things we picked up as children before we could even reason about their correctness. You now have the knowledge and tools to make a change. It’s up to you but know that if you do this work you are actively striving to make the world a better place.
Play the game and post your scores! Let’s see who’s the best!
Check Out Some Of My Other Posts Here
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