Moving Beyond Implicit Bias | Lisa Johnson | TEDxLewisUniversity

Summary

The speaker shares a personal journey of confronting and overcoming unconscious bias, sparked by an incident at an airport. Growing up in a diverse environment, the speaker initially felt no sense of exclusion. However, negative travel experiences led to adopting a defensive travel demeanor, avoiding social interaction to prevent potential bias encounters. A pivotal moment came when the speaker realized their own bias was causing them to reject genuine connections with others. This realization prompted a change in behavior, accepting invitations and engaging more openly with people from different cultures. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of setting a good example to move beyond bias and fostering understanding and acceptance.

Takeaways

• 💡 We all have unconscious biases that conflict with our conscious values, often without realizing it.
• ✈️ The speaker shares a personal experience at an airport where she encountered bias and felt marginalized, highlighting the emotional impact of such moments.
• 🧠 Unconscious bias can develop early in life, but the speaker did not experience it until she began traveling and noticed it in professional environments.
• 👀 To avoid conflict, the speaker adopted a strategy of isolation during travel, using headphones and books as shields to protect herself from potential bias.
• 🌍 A career opportunity for global travel led the speaker to reconsider her defensive habits and face the possibility of encountering racial prejudice abroad.
• 🎯 After reflecting on her own biases, the speaker realized she had been rejecting meaningful social invitations due to her unconscious fears.
• 🤝 She decided to make a conscious effort to change, accepting invitations and forming deeper relationships with people from different cultures.
• 👁 The speaker started re-engaging with the world, making eye contact and allowing herself to connect with others, rather than using her defenses.
• 🔁 While negative experiences still occur, the speaker strives to take the high road, not allowing a few bad encounters to shape her view of others.
• 🏆 Setting a good example and continuously educating others through actions is key to overcoming unconscious bias and fostering understanding.

Q & A

What is unconscious or implicit bias?

Unconscious or implicit bias refers to the automatic, subconscious beliefs or attitudes we hold about different groups that may not align with our conscious values.

How did the speaker experience bias during their travel at the airport?

The speaker was in line to board a first-class flight when a man confidently placed his boarding pass over hers, disregarding her presence. This action triggered feelings of bias, particularly as she was the only Black person in line.

What past experiences influenced the speaker's reaction to the man at the airport?

The speaker's reaction was influenced by stories her parents shared about civil rights and segregation, which caused her to perceive the man's action as a deeper insult tied to racial inequality.

What conflict did the speaker face during her travels, and how did she handle it?

The speaker often felt a conflict between staying engaged with others and avoiding potential confrontations due to bias. To cope, she adopted a strategy of conflict avoidance by avoiding eye contact and engaging minimally with people during travel.

What changed the speaker’s travel experience from enjoyment to avoidance?

The speaker shifted from being a curious and engaging traveler to avoiding interactions due to her experiences with implicit bias, especially when flying with higher boarding groups and interacting with certain men.

What was the turning point for the speaker’s journey in overcoming her own unconscious bias?

The turning point came when the speaker realized she was declining invitations from colleagues and avoiding social connections due to her own unconscious bias. This moment of self-awareness led her to decide to make changes.

How did the speaker decide to change her behavior after realizing her own unconscious bias?

The speaker decided to start accepting invitations, extending invitations to others, making eye contact, and re-engaging with people during her travels instead of using protective barriers like headphones and books.

What role does emotion play in managing unconscious bias, according to the speaker?

The speaker believes that emotions, including negative ones like regret, need to be acknowledged, managed, and then used to make positive changes. For her, regret over missed opportunities drove her to change her behavior.

What lesson does the speaker emphasize regarding interactions and unconscious bias?

The speaker emphasizes that by our behaviors and actions, we are always educating others. We can either reinforce someone’s unconscious bias or challenge it by showing them something different.

How did the speaker handle the situation with the man at the airport after he tried to board ahead of her?

The speaker stayed calm, allowing the gate attendant to resolve the situation by confirming that she belonged in the first-class boarding group as well. The man left without a word, and she proceeded to board.

Outlines

00:00

✈️ Overcoming Bias in Travel

The speaker shares an experience at an airport where a man aggressively placed his boarding pass over hers while boarding a first-class flight. This interaction triggers deep emotions, reminding her of the history of civil rights struggles and segregation, though she acknowledges she hasn't personally faced such hardships. Her parents' stories of segregation resonate, and the incident feels like a personal affront. This moment marks the beginning of her journey to confront and move beyond her own unconscious biases.

05:01

🌍 The Challenges of Global Perceptions

The speaker reflects on taking a global travel project despite fears of racial prejudice, which were confirmed by her supervisor's direct question about handling discrimination. She decides to maintain professionalism and politeness while keeping a protective barrier. However, during a trip, she declines invitations to dinner from colleagues, revealing her unconscious bias and fear of not being welcomed. This realization marks a turning point, as she recognizes the inconsistency between her actions and her values, leading her to question whether her self-imposed barriers have caused her to miss valuable experiences.

10:02

🤝 Embracing Change and Connection

The speaker acknowledges her regret for missed opportunities to connect with others due to her unconscious bias. She decides to make changes, accepting invitations and building meaningful relationships. She shifts her approach during travel, engaging more with people and shedding the protective behaviors that had isolated her. This transformation allows her to experience richer interactions, moving away from her prior avoidance. She stresses the importance of managing emotions like regret and making conscious efforts to change negative behaviors in order to live authentically and fully.

🎭 Navigating Negative Situations with Dignity

Reflecting on the airport incident, the speaker highlights how she handled the situation with grace, avoiding confrontation while the gate attendant supported her. She acknowledges that not all situations go her way, and she will sometimes express displeasure or even file complaints when necessary. However, she strives to set a positive example. The speaker touches on the fatigue many people of color feel in being the 'educator' for others regarding race and bias. She believes that, knowingly or unknowingly, we are all constantly educating others through our actions, and setting a good example helps break down unconscious biases in society.

Keywords

💡Unconscious Bias

Unconscious bias refers to the automatic, implicit assumptions and attitudes people hold about different groups, which may not align with their conscious beliefs. In the video, the speaker discusses how such biases affect interactions, using the example of a man who presumptuously placed his boarding pass over hers, an incident she interprets through the lens of racial bias. The video highlights how these biases can shape behavior without us realizing it.

💡Segregation

Segregation is the enforced separation of different racial or ethnic groups. The speaker mentions stories from her parents about living during segregation, such as sitting in designated sections of theaters or swimming in 'colored' pools. These stories serve as a backdrop to her own experiences of racial bias, connecting her personal encounters to a broader history of discrimination.

💡Civil Rights

Civil rights refer to the legal protections and freedoms guaranteed to all individuals, regardless of race, gender, or other characteristics. The speaker draws a connection between her experience with the man at the airport and the historical denial of civil rights to Black Americans, showing how the incident reminded her of larger struggles for racial equality.

💡Conflict Avoidance

Conflict avoidance is the strategy of evading confrontations to minimize stress or tension. The speaker adopted this approach during her travels, choosing to avoid eye contact or interactions to prevent potential racial conflict, which altered her usually engaging and curious personality. This shift highlights how fear of bias can lead individuals to withdraw and isolate themselves.

💡Implicit Bias

Implicit bias, synonymous with unconscious bias, is a form of prejudice that people are often unaware they possess. It operates subtly and can influence decisions and actions. In the video, the speaker explores how implicit biases can shape behavior in unexpected ways, like her own hesitancy to accept dinner invitations due to preconceived notions about how she would be treated as a Black woman.

💡Regret

Regret is a feeling of sorrow or disappointment over something that has happened or been done. The speaker reflects on the regret she felt after realizing that she missed out on meaningful connections by avoiding interactions due to her own biases. This emotion became a catalyst for her decision to change her behavior and embrace more open engagement.

💡Resilience

Resilience refers to the ability to recover from difficult situations or setbacks. The speaker demonstrates resilience by choosing to confront her biases and make changes in her behavior, even after experiencing prejudice and exclusion. Her decision to engage more openly with people, despite previous negative encounters, is a testament to her strength.

💡Representation

Representation involves individuals acting as examples or symbols of their race, gender, or other identity groups. The speaker mentions feeling the burden of representing her race in predominantly white spaces, as others may expect her to educate them on issues of race. This experience is emotionally taxing, highlighting the pressure that marginalized individuals often face in such roles.

💡Cultural Exchange

Cultural exchange is the sharing of ideas, traditions, and practices between people from different cultures. The speaker regrets turning down opportunities to engage in cultural exchange by refusing invitations to dine with her colleagues and their families. She recognizes that these missed opportunities deprived her of enriching experiences that could have fostered deeper cross-cultural understanding.

💡Emotional Management

Emotional management involves recognizing and regulating one’s emotions in a healthy way. The speaker discusses how she learned to manage emotions like regret and frustration by giving herself time to process them and then choosing to act positively. She emphasizes that managing emotions is essential for personal growth, especially in overcoming unconscious bias.

Highlights

Unconscious bias is an inherent belief about different groups that contradicts our conscious values.

Implicit bias can be recognized through personal experiences, such as the author's encounter at an airport.

The author's parents' stories about segregation provide a historical context for understanding bias.

Unconscious bias can start in early years and be reinforced through experiences.

The author's upbringing in a diverse environment contrasts with later experiences of bias.

Conflict avoidance was the author's initial reaction to bias, leading to a change in travel behavior.

An invitation for a global travel project prompted the author to confront their own unconscious bias.

The author's strategy of being professional and polite was a way to protect themselves from bias.

A moment of self-reflection led the author to realize their own unconscious bias was affecting their actions.

The author recognized the inconsistency between their actions and their values.

The author decided to make changes to overcome their unconscious bias.

Accepting invitations and extending them was part of the author's strategy to combat bias.

The author stopped using avoidance tactics like not making eye contact during travel.

The author emphasizes the importance of not letting a few negative experiences define one's view of an entire group.

In a tense airport situation, the author chose the high road and let the situation resolve without conflict.

The author discusses the fatigue of being the 'educator' for one's race due to being the only representative.

The author suggests that everyone educates others through their behaviors and actions.

Setting a good example is key to moving beyond bias, according to the author.

The desire for understanding and acceptance is a universal human need.

Transcripts

[Music]

we all have bias you probably have heard

that statement before

the fact is we all have unconscious

beliefs about different groups

and they are inconsistent with our

conscious values it's also called

implicit bias

but if it is indeed unconscious

how do we get past it

i was in an airport a while back and the

gate attendant called for first class to

board

as a leadership trainer i log a lot of

air miles and so it isn't uncommon for

me to fly first class i fell into line

like i normally do single file heading

to the gate attendant boarding pass in

hand

extended it to her went off to the side

a man who had been waiting against the

wall

strode over

and placed his boarding pass over

mine

i mean right

i'm sure for many of you

that would have earned that man your

best glare wouldn't it

i mean probably the real sideare right

but for many of you as it did for me

it might have struck an even deeper

court

if you have any frame of reference to

civil rights

or denial of civil rights and what that

man did

might have carried a deeper insult now

i've never had my civil rights denied

but

my parents who were great storytellers

would share experiences about growing up

back in the day

and i remember them

talking about

when they were courting

how they like to go to the theater and

they would hold hands and they would sit

in their designated section in the

balcony or how much they enjoyed going

to

the colored swimming pool with their

friends

i loved these stories

but it reminded me segregation was not

that long ago

and when that man white man

when he strode forward with such

confidence and placed his passport

passing over mine

it was like a punch in the gut

there were other women that were in that

line

but i was the only black person so the

visual was very stark and i say this as

an example of bias

that led me

to my journey in discovering how to move

past my own unconscious bias

we've learned through studies that

unconscious bias can start in the early

years that really wasn't my experience

growing up i i grew up in a beautiful

small town in a home my parents built we

worshiped in a multicultural church

built by our ancestors

i went to a city school diverse student

body

overwhelmingly fair teacher so i never

really felt that i didn't belong

likewise i was raised to appreciate the

differences in others i got along well

with a wide variety of students

i love foreign language

i had half a dozen pen pals from around

the world when i was in high school

it wasn't until i started traveling and

when primarily

in the higher boarding groups

and most frequently

involving men

my reaction to this

was one of conflict avoidance

better to lay low because i'd seen

examples

you know if something would happen to

dispute or what have you i would

probably be at a disadvantage

so better to just keep calm and stay out

of the fray that meant avoiding eye

contact it meant not engaging in a lot

of conversation

at the gates where we would sit i tended

to go to the less populated areas

laptop book headphones earphones

all were my little weapons

shields to protect me

kind of insulating

that was how it went for a while

it changed my travel experience i went

from being this happy-go-lucky curious

engaging traveler to uh you know

i'm just trying to get from point a to

point b

with as little drama as possible

and then i was approached by a

supervisor with a proposal

an invitation for a project that

involved global travel

now you would think

that based upon what i've just shared

with you about some of my travel

experiences that i would have hesitated

before i responded i didn't i

immediately said yes

it was that person inside me the person

who wanted to experience

differences culture sights sounds people

i immediately said yes but when the

excitement down died down there was a

reckoning okay now what am i going to do

after all this was global travel

hadn't i seen it in the news

in the movies in the media

some parts of the world

there's a perception of black people

that we are less than less intelligent

less valued

how am i going to handle that well you

know my strategy had been working pretty

well

so i decided to continue that be

professional

be polite but i'm gonna protect myself

that barrier is going to stay in place

and that's what i did if there was any

doubt in my mind it was reinforced when

that supervisor before my first

adventure

came to me and during the conversation

said how are you going to deal with

racial prejudice when you encounter it

wow

came right out with it

i respect him for that

but it's real

made it very real to me and i just told

him that i would endeavor to take the

high road i would continue to do as i

had been the job would get done i

wouldn't let it deter me so off i went

and it was

the opportunity of a lifetime i am so

glad that i took that assignment and

then one night i was in my hotel room i

was having dinner

and i reflected on the fact that i had

been invited to dinner by a colleague

that night

an invitation to dine with them with

their family and their home and i had

said no

and it wasn't the first time that that

had happened

i had gotten very comfortable in my

protective armor

and those no's with the nice excuses

were rolling off the tongue

but this was different it was the second

such invitation that i had had

in one week and i had to face the fact

i was thinking that i wouldn't be

welcomed that i wouldn't be treated

as well or as much as

during this adventure and yet people

were reaching out to me they were

wanting to engage they were wanting to

connect and now i was the one

that was saying no and putting up the

barrier due to my unconscious bias

it was a difficult moment a harsh moment

to realize that i was being a hypocrite

but it was my first

move toward my journey to move beyond

unconscious bias was recognizing that

the way i was acting

was not consistent with my values it was

not consistent with who i said i was not

consistent with the good citizen who

wanted to experience others and cultures

and sights and sounds not consistent

with the hr professional who is supposed

to be objective and fair-minded in

making their decisions

no it was inconsistent

that was my first step

and then i thought about the impact of

it

do i leave this the way it is or do i

make change

i decided to make change because the

impact to me

concerned me did i hurt people's

feelings

did i change the trajectory of a

friendship

you know

that to be invited into anyone's home in

any culture

is so special

i know that i missed out

on some rich experiences and i didn't

like that feeling that feeling of regret

regret for missed opportunities so i

endeavor to make a change

as a leadership trainer one of the

messages that i deliver to my clients is

when it comes to managing emotions we

must accept emotions including those

negative ones

give them their do

manage them and then make positive

change

for me that emotion was regret

i'm a literal person so i gave myself a

weekend

a weekend to deal with this and then

decide what changes i was going to make

for me

the weekend was all that i needed and

after the end of that weekend i made a

decision

to make changes

and to forgive myself

i decided to leave the self-guilt behind

i decided to leave the self-judgment

behind

and start going about

making new changes what did those

changes look like well

first of all i started accepting those

invitations

i accepted the invites and i started

extending invites to my city to my town

from people from other parts of the

world

what a more meaningful relationship

that resulted in in many instances you

know people are complicated we take the

good with the bad

but it was something that i never

doubted that i regretted having done

another change that i made

was i reflected on my travel experience

i started avoiding

eye contact before i stopped doing that

i started making eye contact that's who

i am i started being engaging again

still have my headphones and still have

my materials my laptop and book but i

don't use them as shields anymore

i take moments i take breaks to stop and

absorb what's going on around me and

enjoying people it's amazing how often

sometimes when that happens people want

to talk people want to get to know you

it's very important

of course there are still the negative

situations they do occur from time to

time

i've endeavored that i will take the

high road in those instances but more

importantly i won't let the ugliness of

a few

cause me

to paint a whole category with a broad

brush

speaking of negative

negative experiences what about that

situation in the airport

we're at a stalemate

boarding passes

i'm sure the people that were in the

surrounding gateway were like oh my

goodness we're about to have a scene

here

but i didn't give them that i waited for

the gate attendant white lady

she reached under

and took my boarding pass and said this

lady belongs in this boarding group as

well

the man turned and left without a word i

said thank you and i bored it

things don't always go my way

and when they don't i will vocalize my

displeasure

and move on

on occasion if it's serious i will

complain but that's very rare

it's important to me to set

a good example

this isn't the case with everyone not

everyone wants to own that

in these past turbulent years where

we've had so much upheaval including in

regards to bias

i've had many a friend confide i am so

tired

i am so frustrated with feeling like i'm

the representative for my race because

i'm the only one representing in the

group i have to be the educator i'm

tired of this i get it

and you know what if we were to

change that and say black race white

race asian race or any category

i'm sure that you and many others would

feel the same way we do get tired of

being the educators but whether we

realize it or not we're always educating

people by our behaviors and by our

actions

many times throughout the day you are

either

showing someone something different than

their unconscious bias realize which is

a wonderful teachable moment

or you are reinforcing their unconscious

bias

and at the end of the day

don't we all just want to be understood

don't we all just want to be accepted

for who we are

so i find that setting the good example

is a key to moving beyond bias

for me

for you

and for others

[Music]