3 ms·

I took one of those cognitive bias quizzes that showed I have racial bias. It was a hard pill to swallow, to have to acknowledge I am empirically a racist and c

I took one of those cognitive bias quizzes that showed I have racial bias. It was a hard pill to swallow, to have to acknowledge I am empirically a racist and can't change that. (it dealt with reaction times or some such) But what I can change is my behavior that doesnt involve millisecond reaction times. I can use empirical data to make hiring choices. I can stop using phrases like "culture fit" or making decisions based on intuition of how I feel about someone. I can do my part to fight cognitive bias by acknowledging it exists and by choosing to do better and make decisions with data, but I can't even trust myself to create the criteria for evaluation without polluting it with my own biases. I am not sure why I am posting this. Probably because I want to remind myself that growing up in the rural Midwest put ideas in my head that while I reject them rationally, they have polluted deep parts or my brain that form a large part of my intuition-based decisions.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> cognitive bias quizzes that showed I have racial bias...have to acknowledge I am empirically a racist Implicit association [1]. It means you may have an inbuilt racist tendency (or lack of familiarity), not that you are a racist. Given you proceeded to correct for it, I would strongly reject the notion that you are--empirically or otherwise--a racist. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit-association_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit-association_test
- Sirizarry 3y ago
  Yes this commenter isn’t racist and frankly I find it sad that they think they are. I grew up a minority in Chicago (admittedly very minority friendly in many ways (except the police)) and saw a lot of racist stuff against a wide variety of ethnicities. None of these moments were millisecond biases or subconscious remarks. Hell I’m probably more biased than this person yet I know for a fact that I am not racist. I hope they figure that out for themselves soon, sounds sad to constantly think of yourself in such a negative way.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    Totally agree. There has been a neo-academic attempt to redefine racism independent of intent. Structural racism is real, but it can exist without every person within it necessarily being a racist.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> cognitive bias quizzes that showed I have racial bias...have to acknowledge I am empirically a racist Implicit association [1]. It means you may have an inbuilt racist tendency (or lack of familiarity), not that you are a racist. Given you proceeded to correct for it, I would strongly reject the notion that you are--empirically or otherwise--a racist. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit-association_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit-association_test

Sirizarry 3y ago
Yes this commenter isn’t racist and frankly I find it sad that they think they are. I grew up a minority in Chicago (admittedly very minority friendly in many ways (except the police)) and saw a lot of racist stuff against a wide variety of ethnicities. None of these moments were millisecond biases or subconscious remarks. Hell I’m probably more biased than this person yet I know for a fact that I am not racist. I hope they figure that out for themselves soon, sounds sad to constantly think of yourself in such a negative way.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  Totally agree. There has been a neo-academic attempt to redefine racism independent of intent. Structural racism is real, but it can exist without every person within it necessarily being a racist.