Check Your Privilege – With Science
Like many of you, I’ve spent time over the past year searching for organizations to support, initiatives to join, and other ways I can become a better advocate for diversity throughout my communities.
But something I discovered along this journey set me on a different, and more introspective path. It started when I received scientific proof that I didn’t know my own mind – or fully understand all the factors that may be shaping my perceptions and behaviors – as well as I thought I did.
You may already be familiar with the concept of unconscious biases – deep-seated social stereotypes that people form without being consciously aware that it’s happening. We all have them, gathered from a lifetime of learning experiences, social conditioning, and personal interactions. But as we strive to take our personal and professional journeys in more inclusive directions, it is worth surfacing and identifying these hidden sources of potential conflict. Doing so will help us discover ways to be better – and do better – for our colleagues, customers, and communities.
A great starting point for this effort is to take one of the objective, science-based tests created under a collaborative research initiative called Project Implicit.
Project Implicit is aimed at examining implicit social cognition – thoughts and feelings that may exist outside of our conscious awareness and control. Their work led to the development of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which uses a series of simple exercises to measure attitudes and beliefs that people have but may be unwilling or unable to report on their own.
Over the past few months, I’ve taken nearly all of the 15 tests available, which explore perceptions about protected classes – like gender, race, and religion – as well as preferences in other areas, like politics, weapons, and careers.
While I won’t reveal my scores (some of which are more comfortable to accept than others), being confronted with the findings renewed my resolve to keep educating myself, so I can become a more powerful ally to anyone struggling with the impact of institutional discrimination and prejudice.
If you would like to learn more, visit the IAT site here and take a couple of the fun and easy tests for yourself. --Jodi