Hidden Bias

The test that I took proved that I am slightly to moderately biased towards whites. This information makes it seem like it is not entirely a person’s choice whether or not to be racist or not. Stereotypes are learned at a really young age, so it is something that is subconscious and not necessarily what we think about every day. The decisions we make and the words that we choose to use I think are based on these stereotypes that we develop far before we even know what stereotypes are. Biases are also developed like this. I think they are determined by the society and surroundings a child is brought up in/ around. Almost everyone has a bias, it’s hard not to. These biases are not something though that I or probably most people think about on a daily basis. Instead, they are reflected in our choices and views about different people and ideas. I think that my hidden biases influence me in ways that I am not consciously aware of. They influence the way I talk and the way I automatically think about a person when I see them. They control how I feel about certain people and situations and how I handle them. I think that our hidden biases influence us far more than anybody realizes.