So are you? Well if you have taken the time to open this blog then I suggest that you do go ahead and sign up for this very short course (only 24 mins) via LinkedIn Learning.
The Instructor Stacey Gordon takes us through some of the definitions and explanations of bias and what they mean and how we could try and keep a check on them.
Unconscious Bias — attitudes or stereotypes that affect our views, our actions and our decision-making ability.
Stacey makes some valid points when she says that everyone is biased. But the issues aggravates when some people feel like they are being attacked. There is a mention of a very useful site called “Project Implicit”, which aims to educate the public about hidden biases. They have a series of tests one can do eg: do u prefer thin or fat people, distinguish India from Pakistan, etc.
From here, choose the country you are in. For me, it was India and you will see a page like the one below.
Here, you can take a series of tests based on images, etc that will test you for how biased you are. It’s worth taking and understanding where you are and then working on the parts you need to improve.
We are also told about certain bias like ‘Affinity’, which is warming upto people like us or “Perception Bias”, where we believe that a person may be excellent because he comes from a particular school or college. Such biases are an issue as we may tend to unconsciously favour them if we also come from the same place or are in awe of them.
I pursued this course as I was keen to understand why we share certain information online. As a Fake News Debunker, spread of fake news has a lot to do with our inherent bias that we have. This has been seen as so many pics, videos go viral because it tends to stimulate or agree with our inherent bias.
I’m hoping that I can take some part from this course and use it with my existing media trainings and bring some light on this topic. Since this is a short course, it won’t take much time.
Do let me know if you take this course or have some ideas or just want to chat about the menace misinformation is causing. Happy to get on a call.
