Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, by Banaji and Greenwald, seeks to inform readers about how mindbugs and stereotypes influence people’s behaviors both consciously and unconsciously. The authors discuss multiple well-known scientific studies that were designed to reveal people’s in-group preferences and unconscious biases. By discussing multiple kinds of biases and explaining how they can negatively affect others in many different ways, Banaji and Greenwald open up the discussion regarding stereotypes and how to handle one’s own preferences and biases.
This book focused a lot on discussing the Implicit Association Test. I took quite a few of these tests in my undergraduate psychology classes, and while the book warned against taking …show more content…
The authors described this as, “one mind, two opposing preferences--one the product of her mind’s reflective thinking, the other of the same minds automatic associations” (Banaji & Greenwald, 2016, p. 56). While I found this interesting, because I had never really thought about it before, I definitely did not find it surprising. Internalized homophobia is a very real thing and frankly, I would be surprised if I took the sexual orientation IAT and did not show an unconscious preference for heterosexuality. I thought this was really interesting to draw attention to, because it shows just how ingrained implicit biases can be. Consciously, I do not favor heterosexuality. I favor queerness, because it is nice to have a community. But maybe my desire for such a community is proof of the fact that I know deep down that heterosexuality is the ideal, and so I want to share my separateness with others who are similarly not in the …show more content…
It was hard for me to stay interested, as I felt like much of what they discussed (the Implicit Association Test, measuring the amount of time a baby focuses on one stimuli versus another, in-group versus out-group behaviors, etc.) was discussed in every single psychology course I took as an undergrad. Because none of it was new to me, it was hard to be excited about the relevance of what the authors were talking about. Even though it was not my favorite book we read in this course, I still found some of the information to be valuable. I am glad this book is out there, as I think it is very informative and thought-provoking, particularly for people who would not have come across these studies and tests otherwise in their lives. Being able to recognize our own biases and blindspots is crucial to moving past them, and for that reason I am glad this book exists, it just was not for
This book focused a lot on discussing the Implicit Association Test. I took quite a few of these tests in my undergraduate psychology classes, and while the book warned against taking …show more content…
The authors described this as, “one mind, two opposing preferences--one the product of her mind’s reflective thinking, the other of the same minds automatic associations” (Banaji & Greenwald, 2016, p. 56). While I found this interesting, because I had never really thought about it before, I definitely did not find it surprising. Internalized homophobia is a very real thing and frankly, I would be surprised if I took the sexual orientation IAT and did not show an unconscious preference for heterosexuality. I thought this was really interesting to draw attention to, because it shows just how ingrained implicit biases can be. Consciously, I do not favor heterosexuality. I favor queerness, because it is nice to have a community. But maybe my desire for such a community is proof of the fact that I know deep down that heterosexuality is the ideal, and so I want to share my separateness with others who are similarly not in the …show more content…
It was hard for me to stay interested, as I felt like much of what they discussed (the Implicit Association Test, measuring the amount of time a baby focuses on one stimuli versus another, in-group versus out-group behaviors, etc.) was discussed in every single psychology course I took as an undergrad. Because none of it was new to me, it was hard to be excited about the relevance of what the authors were talking about. Even though it was not my favorite book we read in this course, I still found some of the information to be valuable. I am glad this book is out there, as I think it is very informative and thought-provoking, particularly for people who would not have come across these studies and tests otherwise in their lives. Being able to recognize our own biases and blindspots is crucial to moving past them, and for that reason I am glad this book exists, it just was not for