S2E08: Unpacking the Science and Controversy around "Implicit Bias"

March is Disneybound* month, something Amber enjoys every year, so for this month’s episode, we got dressed up as Chip (Will) and Dale (Amber) from Disney’s Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers! What’s bringing us joy this time? Will shares about how much joy cosplay brings to him, and getting to inhabit a character who’s someone other than himself - even if it’s a villain. And Amber talks about the joy she got from taking some of the high schoolers she mentors to Atlanta to tour HBCUs and helping them realize they could go to those types of schools.  This episode’s main discussion focuses understanding what implicit bias is, and the controversy around the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and the ways in which it gets used without proper context and how that can create bad data (and how it negatively affects meta analyses of stereotyping and bias research). The discussion topic leads into the audience question where Will explains terminology variations regarding unintentional bias versus unconscious bias vs implicit bias (and how and why he prefers “unintentional bias” but for our purposes, they’re essentially the same thing). This episode’s habit-breaking skill is to Be Mindful of Your Input, because your social environment and the media all influence how you think, particularly related to marginalized or stereotyped groups. This discussion carries us into story time, where Will relates a story about a very young White boy whose only regular exposure to Black folks was on the TV show COPS and how that lead to an embarrassing situation; and Amber shares about a time she accidentally assumed a name that was difficult for her to pronounce belonged to the only Latin intern in her group, but she acknowledged the mistake and explained how it happened - rather than trying to ignore the error - and the intern graciously understood and forgave her.  The episode wraps up with Amber’s joyful recommendation of Trixie Motel the motel (and then home) makeover show staring Trixie Mattel!  *Disneybounding: If you are bound for (traveling to) a Disney Parks property, Disney does not allow adults in costumes (unless it’s a special event), so fans will create versions of Disney character outfits using “everyday clothes” rather than costumes, hence Disneybounding. 

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