Unconscious Bias
People subjected to racism and bias attitudes often face a multitude of challenges when placed in racially hostile environments. One of these challenges is unconscious bias. “Unconscious bias refers to a bias that we are unaware of, and which happens outside of our control. It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgments and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences.” (Herbert, 2013, p.1)
This is a direct result of how society treats minorities, and how easily people are willing to accept it. According to the article, “The Psychology of Unconscious Bias”, by Rachel Sondgeroth (2015), “Psychologists …show more content…
“At least five elements, distinguish automatic from deliberate processes: awareness, intention, control, effort, and efficiency. This study was a result of both deliberate and automatic thinking. When participants had to identify the colors of the rectangles, it was automatic thinking because they knew the colors... However, when asked to identify the color of words which spelled out different colors, participants used their deliberate thinking. “Automatic thinking involves little effort because it relied on knowledge structures, which are organized packets of information that are stores in memory” (Baumeister & Bushman, …show more content…
Prejudices attitudes are growing on college campuses and Dartmouth College is a perfect example of the growth. In an article title, “Dartmouth Apologizes for Indian Incidents”, we learned that “A fraternity sold T-shirts, prior to the football game against the College of the Holy Cross, depicting a Holy Cross Crusader performing oral sex on an Indian.”(Jaschik, 2006).
This incident among others against the Native Americans led to the President of the college, James Wright releasing an apology. “Wright acknowledged that much of the behavior that has angered American Indians -- such as the distribution of clothing with Indian symbolism -- is not illegal and could not be punished by the college. But he called for more people -- himself included -- to speak out against offensive comments”. (Jaschik, 2006) Through the events that took place at Dartmouth College, we see that prejudice attitudes are present on college