Sometimes I wish I had become a social scientist, because so much of the research being done right now is brilliant. Below I have embedded a lecture delivered last year by Mazarin Banaji, who is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Her research is concerned with human thinking and feeling in social context and in this lecture she discusses the hidden attitudes people have about social group memberships such as race, gender and class.
The talk is 30 minutes long, but I think it is time well spent. Not only is Banaji a wonderful scientist and an animated speaker, but her message is tremendously meaningful. By the end, you will be convinced that your mind is filled with what she calls invisible "bugs," biasing your perception of everyone you meet and influencing every judgment you make. To paraphrase the eminent (and sexy?) Neil deGrasse Tyson when he comments at the end, 'any time you learn something about yourself... when you thought you knew yourself... it's a remarkable moment.'
Especially important for us as future teachers, I think, is Banaji's optimistic conclusion that exposure to role-models of color, or role-models who are women, can reverse the unconscious bias. If that is true, then simply by watching this lecture we have probably done our unconscious minds some good! To take part in Banaji's research, go to implicit.harvard.edu. To hear more lectures on this and other hot topics in science, social science and philosophy, go to tsntv.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment