Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do

In Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt’s book, she reveals that bias is a byproduct of the essential functioning of the brain. By doing so, she creates an objective foundation upon which bias can be examined and dismantled. Bias has the power to determine the attention of humans, affecting what and who they see and don’t see. Attentional bias can have adverse effects for individuals and society, creating unequal outcomes and opportunities.

The race-selective response is exhibited in babies as young as three months old. Scans of their brains reveal that babies react more strongly toward faces that reflect their own race. The race-selective response persists throughout life; humans build up preferences for faces that are similar to their own and similar to the faces that they see on a day-to-day basis. In one study performed by Eberhardt and her colleagues which tracked the activation of the fusiform face area in participants’ brains, their findings revealed that individuals’ brains reacted more vigorously to photographs of those with the same race as the participants. Further research showed that the brain reacts to the introduction of opposite-race faces by using categorization, a means of reacting to stimuli.