Visit the #BeatBias Resolution homepage to view all the steps released so far. 

Step 2: Are these stereotypes affecting me?

Stereotypes are everywhere, and nearly every community faces them… whether positive or negative. These stereotypes often are the building blocks for our unconscious bias, and can have very real consequences when they influence our behavior.

Today’s Action Item #1

• Look at the list of descriptive words below on the left, and connect each to the community on the right that you think the majority of people (not necessarily you) would connect them to. You can connect words to communities more than once, and not every community needs to have a word associated with them. Download and print this worksheet (PDF) so you can draw and then see the connections.
• Once you are finished, take a moment to review which words are associated with each community. Pay attention to which are positive and which are negative, and which communities are connected to the most words.

While you were connecting communities with descriptors you believe the majority of people would pair together, the reality is that at the unconscious level, you may make some of these associations as well. You pairing them means you know a stereotype exists, and stereotypes we have at the unconscious level are often stereotypes we reject when we consciously think about them. But their influence at the unconscious level – when they don’t rise to the conscious level – can determine how we behave in a situation or how we treat or view someone.

Today’s Action Item #2

• Take one last look at the list of communities and the words you think the majority of people would pair together. If people associate these words with these communities, how do you think that affects the way they interact with or think about these communities?

Okay! That's it for today! Come back tomorrow at 10am to see Step 3!