Implicit Bias

Today's Goals

• Understand implicit bias as it relates to race 
• Examine the ways in which your individual mind is influenced by the social mind
  
• Discuss solutions to addressing implicit bias

Starter

1. Turn in your seminar reflection!

2. Ashley to define what "partisan" means

3. Read this list of Causes of Partisan Perceptions then answer the following prompt:

• Choose several of the items on the above list and discuss where you have seen the principles in play in society. Think about yourself and your own views.  Do you find yourself falling victim to any of these causes of partisan perception?  Or think about the climate of information we are living in.  What are examples of people seeing the same events/ideas in different ways.  Why does this happen?​

Class Biz

• Let's take a look at the homework for this week!
• Honors, we'll try to discuss the Zinn reading at the end of class today-- if we don't have time, we'll hit it tomorrow.
• Where are we heading next? Ashley to discuss road map of our Morality and Politics of Justice project. Here is a brief timeline of our project:

1. 1 week: Intro to Rhetoric and Ideology-- what are these things?  How can we identify them? We'll continue to study these things throughout our project, but this week will provide a basic overview. 
2. 2 weeks: What is Justice? Moral and Political philosophies most influential in our political/legal system.
3. 2 weeks: Affirmative Action debate (as a case study to practice applying the philosophies and ideologies before you begin exploring your own political issue).   
4. 3-4 weeks: Project Work Time: Research multiple perspectives on a what "justice" is relevant to a political issue of your choice. You'll have to analyze where your own beliefs come from and ultimately create a rhetorical piece to both persuade an audience on your perspective AND explain not only what you believe, but WHY you believe it.
5. Exhibition date: November 9th!

Agenda

1. Discuss starter

• What is confirmation bias?  How does our media environment feed our confirmation bias in today’s politically divided society and keep us from having our ideas shaken and disturbed?​

2. Transition to "Implicit BIAS"......  
We'll be diving more into ideology and rhetoric tomorrow-- both of which can play into causing bias...so let's dig into bias a bit more as it relates to the racism we've seen highlighted in the Charlottesville protests.

Key Terms for today
Bias:

• (noun) prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
• (verb) cause to feel or show inclination or prejudice for or against someone or something.

Implicit:  (adj) implied though not plainly expressed

3. Implicit Bias Test and Reflection (Follow the bullet points steps to complete this activity)

• Click on the link to the implicit bias test
• Read the "Preliminary Information" and click "I wish to proceed" on the bottom.
• Take the test labeled "Race and IAT"
• Follow the instructions carefully to complete this test and find out what your implicit bias is with regards to white v. black races.
• After you're done, jot down your reaction to your results. Were you surprised? Why or why not? How do you feel about these results?

4. Discuss the Implicit Bias Assessment and then let's hear more implicit bias in the following podcast...

5. Listen to Hidden Brain podcast entitled, "The 'Thumbprint Of The Culture': Implicit Bias And Police Shootings" (38 minutes)

Follow along with the transcript and try to annotate to help you answer the following discussion questions about the podcast:

• Summarize the findings from implicit bias tests
• What does it mean when they say, "What we're discovering here is that the individual mind sits in society. And the connection between mind and society is an extremely important one that should not be forgotten."? How does this podcast develop/support this claim?
• What are the implications of these implicit bias tests for our society?
• What solutions does this podcast present for dealing with implicit bias?
• What other questions/ideas/issues did this podcast raise for you?

6. Time to begin the homework DUE THURSDAY, beginning of class:

• Read Herrick article, an "An Overview of Rhetoric" through p 17, you may STOP at the header RHETORIC AS AN ART.
• Complete the Reverse Outline on this reading  

​HONORS- we'll discuss the Zinn reading at the end of class today-- if we run out of time, we'll discuss it during work time tomorrow.