5.3: How to Check Personal Bias

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Fig.5.3. Chart that list synonyms for social norm including social norms, community standard, societal norms, social standard, cultural norms

Social Norms

Social norms are the shared expectations and rules of behavior that are considered acceptable or appropriate in a given social situation. They govern how people interact with each other within a group or culture.

Social norms are learned and accepted from an early age by observing the behaviors of those around them - parents, siblings, other family members, friends, classmates, as well as people in the community.

Humans are generally social creatures and as a result, tend to behave in such a way that gains acceptance in the group and avoids punishment or isolation from the group.

Development of Biases

Biases, prejudices, and stereotypes are also learned from an early age by observing the behaviors of those around them - parents, siblings, other family members, friends, classmates, and people in their community.

Even children as young as 5 years old absorb the biases they see practiced and go on to develop negative biases about people based on their age, race, physical appearance, and social status. Once established, biases become ingrained and are can be extremely difficulty to overcome.

Biases and stereotypes become negative social norms when they lead to the creation of social categories, and social categorization that creates "us" vs.“them” mentalities and in-groups and out-groups, or majority and minority groups.

The social psychologist, John Bargh, once described stereotypes as cognitive monsters because they activate harmful impulses and dangerously influence social judgment.

Implicit Biases

Implicit (unconscious) biases are ingrained, based on the social norms we learned early in life. Everyone has these biases and uses them as mental shortcuts for faster information-processing. Our unconscious brain is constantly processing and sifting through vast amounts of information looking for patterns and combinations that are familiar. We draw on social norms for this processing. All of us have biases, no matter what our profession, no matter where we live, or where we’re from. We are all exposed to a society that is full of implicit biases—biases of all kinds. In fact, research shows that while explicit bias has decreased in our country over time, implicit bias has remained stable. And it is instilled in us at very early ages.

Example of Implict Bias: Nearly 98% of early childhood educators are women so the common assumption is that early childhood educators are all women. Our unconscious brain automatically equates the term "early childhood educator" and "woman" and stops thinking beyond that social norm. However, when a male early childhood educator enters the room the unconscious brain is challenged to process something that feels far less "normal." How we respond, the judgments or decisions we make about male early childhood educator will be based on how well we have recognized and managed our biases.

How to Check Your Personal Biases

Bias is a universal human condition, we all have them, even if we think we don’t! One part of being anti-biased is recognizing your own personal biases. We cannot cure our unconscious biases but it's possible to manage them. This video will provide you identify your personal biases. You are encouraged to try this lesson so you can be more aware of your personal biases and take the necessary steps to reduce their impact on your life.

Common Ground: Education and Intergroup Contact

Because the influence of social norms is so ingrained, long-lasting changes in beliefs about difference will occur only by expanding the concept of social norms. Children bring to the classroom ideas they have absorbed about “others” that may be supported in the materials in their homes, communities, and even the classroom.

Education teaches us to be curious about the social norms of other racial and cultural groups and value of their social norms along side of our own. Seeing and appreciating our common humanity, understanding that people as more similar to us than different from us, creates feelings of kinship and empathy. When we focus more on the individuals within groups, we begin to see that there is a great deal of variability among the individuals within the group and learn that our stereotypes are actually not that informative or accurate.

The idea that intergroup contact will reduce prejudice, known as the contact hypothesis, a theory developed in the 1950s, is simple: If children from different ethnic groups play together prejudice among children is reduced.

Working With Young Children and Stereotypes

When working with young children, educators and caregivers need to be really aware of who is represented (and who is not) in the materials in the classroom.

Anti-Bias Case Study

Rakesha, Emma, and Annie all choose the dramatic play area as they make their plans for the day. Each of them has noticed the shiny new crowns their teachers have added to the dress-up clothes shelves since yesterday.

“Look at me. I’m a princess,” says Annie as she twirls in front of the mirror with a crown on her head.

“Me, too,” adds Rakesha, choosing another of the crowns. “Mine has jewels.”

Emma, who has light skin and light hair and often takes the lead in assigning dramatic play roles, looks at both girls and states emphatically,

“NO!”

She turns to Rakesha, who has darker skin and darker hair, and says,

“You can’t be a princess because you don’t look like one. You have to look like the one in the princess book.”

Rakesha protests,

“I can, too, be a princess! Everybody can be a princess.”

The three girls continue to argue loudly about who can be a princess, and Ms. Denisha comes over to help them work out their disagreement. She sits down on the rug and motions to all three girls to sit down around her. She observes,

“You girls look and sound pretty upset. What is the problem? Rakesha, why don’t you tell us first what made you feel so upset?”

Rakesha repeats Emma’s assertion that Rakesha can’t be a princess. Emma and Annie both add details to the story of the argument. Ms. Denisha listens, asks questions, and restates the problem.

She then tells them,

“It really hurt Rakesha’s feelings when you told her she couldn’t be a princess. Rakesha was right. People with any skin and hair colors can be princesses and other special characters. We can find books about many kinds of princesses. Now, I will stay and help you think of some ideas for your play this morning.” ^[

Developing a culturally responsive understanding of child development is key to making sure child behaviors are not categorized as negative when they are actually rooted in race, ethnicity, and/or gender.

Research has shown that implicit bias, plays a large role in the negative connotation given to normal child behaviors. For example, little boys of color, particularly Black, Latino and Native American boys are seen as much older than their actual age and have unfair expectations placed on them that goes well beyond their abilities. They are suspended at much higher rates, even from preschool and are more harshly labeled as being aggressive, loud and disrespectful.

Educators must acknowledge that goals and beliefs about children’s development vary across different cultural contexts (the cultural context of the many adults in the child’s life: parents/caregivers, extended family, practitioners, teachers).

Source

• Esquival, Krischa. eta al. The Beginning of Bias. The Role of Equity and Diversity in Early Childhood Education. LibreTexts, Social Studies Library. Shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Krischa Esquivel, Emily Elam, Jennifer Paris, & Maricela Tafoya.