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She believes that our minds are shaped by the racial disparities we observe in the world around us, and the narratives we create to try to make sense of them.
One of Dr. Eberhardt's concerns is how this plays into police work in the US. The eyes of a police officer may also be drawn towards African-Americans.
We know that our brains are wired for bias. That necessarily doesn't make us racists, but we do have a responsibility to slow down and question ourselves sometimes.
The company updated this feature and forced users to provide details about what the "suspicious" person was doing, and what they looked like as opposed to just their race and gender. They also included a definition of racial profiling and stated that it was strictly prohibited.
The app is an online community hub for the residents of local neighborhoods to share information. Sadly, the "neighborhood watch" forum started to be used to report "suspicious" sightings of Black and Latinx people.
One app called Nextdoor learned this the hard way when their users began racial profiling.
How can we make ourselves aware of unconscious bias?
Who do our assumptions keep safe and who do they put at risk?
Jennifer Eberhardt is a professor of social psychology at Stanford University who conducts research on race and inequality.
Professor Eberhardt conducted a study to test people's racial biases.
In another test, participants looked at a group of people of different races and were told to focus on the idea of violent crimes. Their eyes were drawn towards the Black people and away from the white people.
She showed the participants photos of people of different races, followed by blurry images of objects.
Prejudice exists in most countries. For example, in the US, African-American people are incarcerated at five times the rate of white people. What does that tell you?
If you get bitten by a snake with yellow stripes, then you're likely to avoid snakes with yellow stripes in the future because you've learned that they're dangerous.
For example, if two members of your tribe die after eating a specific type of berry, you should be able to connect the dots and avoid those berries.
She found that the participants were able to identify blurry images of a gun more easily after seeing a photo of a Black person's face.
It's natural for us to want to protect ourselves. If we got mugged walking down a dark alley, we probably won't walk down any dark alleys anymore, not just the one where we were mugged.
In addition to that, defendants are likely to receive a harsher punishment if their skin is darker in shade. A light skinned African-American man might receive a life sentence while a darker skinned African-American man is sentenced to death.
Unfortunately, in the modern world, our pattern seeking behavior can create a kind of bias towards certain people.
The most obvious example is a police officer assessing a suspect and finding him to be a threat because of the color of his skin. He has categorized Black men as dangerous.
This bias, which may be conscious or unconscious, is infecting every part of the legal justice system.
In another study they found that middle school teachers wanted to punish Black students more harshly than white students for the same infraction.
By forcing people to slow down and consider why they were feeling threatened, they were able to curb racial profiling on the app by 75%.
If we don't start asking ourselves these questions then we'll continue to be blinded by bias.
Prince Harry recently admitted to GQ that his upbringing and education made him totally unaware of unconscious racial bias. "I had no idea what it was. I had no idea it existed," he said, adding that everything changed after he met his wife Meghan and experienced the receiving end of racial bias. He emphasized that everyone needs to examine their unconscious attitude towards race, especially those in positions of power. So, what is racial bias?
Bias is an insidious siren that makes its way into our minds without our knowledge. Psychologists today understand that forming biases is part of our brain's natural survival mechanism. If we were never suspicious of danger then we'd make the same mistakes multiple times and possibly end up dead! We all look for patterns and avoid people and places we determine are dangerous, but we have to be conscious about why.
It's easy to build unconscious biases when you see certain people often portrayed as dangerous criminals in movies and on the news. That doesn't mean it's true. Many of us live in fear and hurt others because we've been bombarded with negative messages and harmful assumptions. It can be hard to go against your instincts, but with a little understanding and compassion we can all make the world a better place to live.
Click through the gallery to learn more about disrupting our biases.
Prince Harry on unconscious racial bias: 'I had no idea'
Here's a psychologist's take on racial bias
LIFESTYLE Racism
Prince Harry recently admitted to GQ that his upbringing and education made him totally unaware of unconscious racial bias. "I had no idea what it was. I had no idea it existed," he said, adding that everything changed after he met his wife Meghan and experienced the receiving end of racial bias. He emphasized that everyone needs to examine their unconscious attitude towards race, especially those in positions of power. So, what is racial bias?
Bias is an insidious siren that makes its way into our minds without our knowledge. Psychologists today understand that forming biases is part of our brain's natural survival mechanism. If we were never suspicious of danger then we'd make the same mistakes multiple times and possibly end up dead! We all look for patterns and avoid people and places we determine are dangerous, but we have to be conscious about why.
It's easy to build unconscious biases when you see certain people often portrayed as dangerous criminals in movies and on the news. That doesn't mean it's true. Many of us live in fear and hurt others because we've been bombarded with negative messages and harmful assumptions. It can be hard to go against your instincts, but with a little understanding and compassion we can all make the world a better place to live.
Click through the gallery to learn more about disrupting our biases.