Recognizing and Understanding Bias for the Animal Welfare Professional was a great class. I learned about the different types of human conscious and unconscious biases. Humans in order to survive have basic instincts and biases. We are fearful and distrusting of things which are new or different from ourselves. The us versus them is a survival mechanism. Our perceptions can change over time based on our experiences. All these things affect how we view the world, others and how we react. The class went into the different types of biases. It then went into how to control our biases in our reactions and behavior so we can treat people and the situation fairly and properly.
There was an interesting class experiment. Instructor told us to close our eyes and imagine we're going on a plane trip to a seminar we're really interested in. We go to the hotel and see a couple in love at the restaurant. We go to the seminar and listen to the presenters speak. Then the instructor told us to open our eyes. He asked us "what did the pilot of the plane look like in your mind? Were they a white man? What color and orientation was the couple? What did the presenters look like?" He showed photos of a female pilot in hijab, a same sex couple and black and disabled speakers. He asked if that was what we imagined? He said these biases are formed based on our experiences in real life, in movies, books...
From the class description, "Our brains are amazing at making connections, doing work, and making decisions without us ever realizing it. Like when you drive home and realize as you're parking that you don't really remember the drive - yup - your unconscious brain played navigator so you could zone out a bit. However, these unconscious connections and processes can have a lasting effect on how you do your job.
Join us as we discuss different types of bias and how they unconsciously invade your decisions and actions on and off the job.
- Learn to identify 5-8 different bias types
- Understand how bias and cynicism can play off of each other;
- That bias, while often thought of as a negative, is actually an evolutionary necessity that we can earn to identify and work on
- And how to create a shared language around bias so your entire team can work on being more aware of these unconscious traps."
Jace Huggins with San Diego Humane Society was the host. I took my two week Humane Officer training at San Diego Humane Society in 2005.
Below are a few slides. I suggest taking the class because the instructor shares a lot of stories, examples, tests and polls.
- Mary Cummins LinkedIn
- Mary Cummins Meet up
- Animal Advocates custom Facebook name
- Mary Cummins Real Estate blog
- Animal Advocates on Google maps
- Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates
- Mary Cummins biography resume short
- Mary Cummins Real Estate Services
- Animal Advocates fan page at Facebook.com
- Mary Cummins Animal Advocates Squirrel Rescue
- Mary Cummins Animal Advocates on Flickr photos
- Mary Cummins Animal Advocates on Twitter.com
- Mary Cummins on Picasa web photo albums
- Mary Cummins on MySpace.com
- Mary Cummins on Google Blogger Blogspot
- Mary Cummins on YouTube.com videos
- Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates on Classmates
- Mary Cummins on VK
- Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates on Google+
