Implicit Bias

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Does anyone else feel weird about the new language that connects implicit bias to neurology and brain function? I get and agree with the idea that stereotypes and assumptions are so ingrained that they are in a person's subconscious, a neat trick the brain does to categorize and simplify. But neurology to me means wiring, not conditioning. Bias is still learned and a choice. It just seems like both "implicit bias" and "brain function" are buzz phrases that people are trying to connect just because.

Besides that, I wish I could get a pass at the mandatory training. So many things that are a challenge with autism, and not having implicit bias is one of the major positives. I resent having to sit in a room all day and be told I must have biases that need to be fixed or else I'm just fooling myself. Very good and needed training for the NTs, though, they bought in to every set up to prove the points.

I'm lost. I don't understand what you are saying.

According to Wikipedia, an implicit bias, or implicit stereotype, is the unconscious attribution of particular qualities to a member of a certain social group. Implicit stereotypes are shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender.

One of the attributes of many Aspies is:
A relationship with someone who has Aspergers tends to be free from bias and discrimination based on race, gender, age or other differences. They judge people based on their behavior not the color of their skin, socioeconomic status or political influence.

So in general an Aspie is the least likely to portray an implicit bias.

O.K. maybe you do understand. "I resent having to sit in a room all day and be told I must have biases that need to be fixed or else I'm just fooling myself." Yes I have encountered that also. Some people just treat Aspies like they are NTs. They lump us all together. And automatically assume we are biased and must be retrained.

Sometimes I think it is all about control. We live in a society where terms like racist and bigot are thrown around like candy. So if someone dislike you or anything you said, they paint you as evil and reindoctrination is the cure.

like jimmyM I find it to be ...not obvious...what you're saying.

But I THINK I get what you're talking about.

Folks lecture you about you having "biases". Bias is not really a good word to use.

What they mean (or what they SHOULD mean to say) is that you (as an autistic) have an autistic way of thinking.
And that most folks a have different, NT, way of thinking.

So you should learn how NTs think, and become flexible. Like switching gears on a bike, you learn to switch back and forth between the two ways of thinking. Or at least that's how I WISH folks had told me back when I was a kid (it how I cope today now that have autism awareness, and have been recently diagnosed).

I disagree that autistic people don't have implicit bias, I have seen plenty of people online who are racist or prejudice and claim to have autism. I think this is just a human thing but it's still no excuse to do it and I believe people can unlearn it. I even have an aspie friend online who claims to be borderline AS and he does implicit bias and people who do it are self unaware.

Also when you read stuff, you see statistics. Peoples judgment also comes from personal experience and they can also learn the wrong information from reading and news also tends to be bias too and don;t forget about confirmation bias. I don't believe any human is immune to bias.

I don't mean to say I don't have implicit bias, I think I mean I am always extremely hyper aware of it and was irritated to have to sit through a day long lecture on.

If you didn't understand the first part, maybe what I'm talking about isn't common knowledge. In education, there has been a recent trend to connect implicit bias to neurology. I guess to make us feel like it's okay that we all do it because it's how our brains work. It just rubs me the wrong way. I prefer to have neurology/brain function/autism/adhd/earning disorders in one box and learned behavior in another. The second box takes away from the first, it feels demeaning to me somehow.

I find reading to be very helpful in countering my bias. Spending time in someone else's brain help me see thing differently. The real problem I have is understanding the large sway that emotions have on people's behavior.

Emotion is pretty much the ONLY factor in human behavior.

So if you don't understand that, you don't understand ANY thing.

I don't know the science, but this also amuses and frustrates me. I have less implicit bias than most (and one could say I am lucky that I haven't suffered for it, but I like to think it was my amazing intuition and vulnerability --- as always the answer is BOTH). In any case, while at work they are training to have awareness. For my part, I am very much AWARE, but what do I do about it... that is socially appropriate? And when I point it out the rest of them are always, no, no, no - you're reading too much into it... You can't see between the lines? These are lines I see!! !

Another one that is troublesome is being told at work by abusive folks to assume they have "positive attention". Ummm, that's how I live my life, but it doesn't change the negative impact and in YOUR case I need to STOP giving you the benefit of the doubt. Yes, I'm that chump. They can smile at me and say they didn't mean it, and … I give them another chance --- and in analogy: they take my lunch money again... and again --- each time with a smile and some different excuse. I need to switch "schools".