The Look - Cameron Brown

 Cameron Brown

11/13/2024

WRIT 103-09

Dr. Entzminger

The Look

We’ve all seen it, whether you noticed or not. It happens anywhere, in stores, at the workplace, and even on a casual stroll outside. A look of either confusion or disgust, aimed towards an average citizen going about their day. Whether you realize it or not you may be among the 88% of Americans who demonstrate this bias in your day to day life. However, today’s topic wasn’t made to criticize or attack that demographic, but to educate and reinvent your mind’s stance on the biases that exist inside of it. The blurry line between our explicit and implicit biases coded in the forms of stereotypes our mind has reinforced are difficult to identify and understand, but our lack of understanding about these types of prejudice doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. Though profiling has become less prevalent over generations, implicit bias is still ubiquitous throughout middle and upper class societies. 

These biases are unconscious and conscious, they unconsciously affect people’s perceptions whether or not the person is aware of these intentions. Explicit bias is as a form of bias that involves someone holding stereotype and race beliefs knowingly and deliberately. This affects his/her decisions or attitude in certain situations like employment discrimination. Implicit bias is more challenging to recognize because it works on the subconscious level to influence daily interactions. Healthcare disparity is when doctors prescribe less effective treatments for minority patients and is the most notable case of this bias. Both of these biases contain discrimination, but implicit bias is more challenging to counter. (FitzGerald and Hurst).

Explicit racial bias has created significant challenges to the economic landscape of the United States by obstructing access to opportunities and resources for minority communities. According to a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, discrimination impacts education, hiring practices, and wage equality, leading to underutilization of the skills and talents of racially marginalized groups. This misallocation of talent and opportunity has led to a 4.9% loss of GDP per capita over the years. Though the margins may seem insignificant, the gradual loss of this growth has led to our country missing out on $1 trillion worth cash flow in and out of our country. I don’t know about you, but a chunk of change that large could go a very long way in improving our country. Imagine the changes in housing that could help solve the crisis future homeowners face, or fixing the inefficient healthcare system to provide superior treatments for everyone. Bias creates a cycle that not only harms marginalized communities but also weakens the overall economy. If the majority of our country’s citizens slightly tweaked how we think about each other, our country could become a safer, larger, self-sustaining superpower that would make our parents and grandparents proud. Stereotypes and implicit bias only hinder those possibilities. The racist jokes might seem funny and harmless, but if they continue to impact the decisions of us and our kids, then at the end of the day we’re the punchline.

While the counterarguments against the impact of implicit bias are common, many of them fall short when you dig into the evidence. Many doubters suggest that the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is unreliable because the results of the tests don’t result in identifying unconscious behaviors in many of its test takers. But studies like the one by Anthony Greenwald shows the IAT actually has consistent predictive validity for behaviors linked to discrimination, especially in areas like hiring and medical treatment  (“Understanding and Using the Implicit Association Test”). Sure, implicit bias might not predict every action in every person, but the research clearly indicates that it can shape how people unconsciously react in moments when racial tension or mistrust can arise (Payne). There’s also the claim that focusing on these biases diverts attention from other structural issues, but this claim can easily be addressed. Not only will studying bias help solve other issues, but we already have the researches to fix both problems. Many structural inequities are built on ingrained stereotypes that reinforce these exact implicit biases, so tackling one of these issues helps chip away at the other. While some programs miss the mark, other programs that have been run well with the right resources to reduce biased behavior over time (Carnes). Ignoring implicit bias because we don’t have a one-size-fits-all solution destroys these meaningful steps we can take to build a fairer society. The more effort we put into taking these steps will only help our society reach a better informed and more effective solution towards the equality of all of our citizens.

I wrote for vice in a style that balances depth with an authentic voice to resonate with younger audiences is something I stress the most in my writing. I incorporated a way to address a complex issue with simpler language and lingo that a typical vice reader can understand and sympathize with. Finding a story that readers can connect with is essential to a Vice author's success, so it’s critical for me to find a story no one could ignore. This approach has taught me the value of gathering thoughtful, engaging content that not only informs but empowers our readers about the real world around us. More importantly, encouraging a younger, louder generation to learn and fight for their beliefs.

Works Cited

Carnes, Molly,  "The Effect of an Intervention to Break the Gender Bias Habit for Faculty at One Institution: A Cluster Randomized, Controlled Trial." Academic Medicine, vol. 90, no. 2, 2015, pp. 221–230.

Explicit Bias. 8 Dec. 2024. ChatGPT, https://chatgpt.com/c/6755f817-2640-800e-9beb-543416d375d8. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Greenwald, Anthony G. "Understanding and Using the Implicit Association Test: III. Meta-analysis of Predictive Validity." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 97, no. 1, 2009, pp. 17–41.

“Implicit Bias.” StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf, 4 Mar. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589697/#:~:text=Implicit%20bias%20includes%20the%20subconscious,%2C%20affect%20their%20decision%2Dmaking. 

Payne, B. Keith, "Behavioral Measurement of Implicit Social Cognition." Social Cognition, vol. 35, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1–31.

 Shah, Harini S., and Julie Bohlen. “Implicit Bias.” StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf, 4 Mar. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK589697 

House, White. “Racial Discrimination in Contemporary America.” The White House, 3 July 2024, www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2024/07/03/racial-discrimination-in-contemporary-america. 

“Ralph Wiggum Danger GIF - Find & Share on Giphy.” GIPHY, GIPHY, 13 May 2021, giphy.com/gifs/reaction-55itGuoAJiZEEen9gg.