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

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2019

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “What Meets the Eye”

Part 1, Introduction Summary

Jennifer Eberhardt, a social psychology professor and researcher at Stanford University, opens by describing her experience speaking in front of 132 members of the Oakland Police Department. After completing a two-year study to investigate civil rights violations in the Oakland Police Department, Eberhardt sets out to explain to the crowd what she found: that implicit bias affects decisions, regardless of good intentions. As she is met with silence and deadpan stares from the audience of law enforcement officers, Eberhardt feels a need to change tactics. She shares a personal story about a time her son spotted a Black man on a plane and told his mother that the man looked like his father. Eberhardt explains to the crowd that her husband is also Black, but aside from skin color, the man did not resemble her husband in any way.

As she turned to her own Black son to lecture him on how not all Black people look the same, her son confided, “I hope that man doesn’t rob the plane” (4). When Eberhardt prompted her son to explain why he said that, he was unable to demonstrate the origin of his thoughts. Eberhardt’s story of how the influence of racial bias reaches even children of color affects the crowd. Her story prompts officers at the training to share their own encounters with implicit bias. One Black officer shares a story of a time when he felt threatened by a Black man on the street only to find the person he was reacting to was his own reflection in a shop window.

Eberhardt defines implicit bias as “a kind of distorting lens that’s a product of both the architecture of our brain and the disparities in our society” (6). Bias has the power to alter perception, and stereotypes have a strong influence on how we perceive race; for instance, the stereotype that “associates blacks with criminality” permeates society (6). An example of this lies in how bias can influence whether a juror assigns the death penalty to a Black felon who has more stereotypically Black features than one who does not. Eberhardt’s book explores how implicit bias influences decisions and to provide a roadmap for confronting it.

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

In the beginning of this chapter, Eberhardt describes growing up in a Black community in Cleveland, Ohio, and how things changed for her when her family moved to a white suburb. She soon realized that she was unable to distinguish between the white faces and worried this might affect her ability to fit in. This experience is reflective of the “other-race effect”—a term which defines the race-selective response which develops in humans’ brains by the time babies are three months old.

Eberhardt describes the link between neuroplasticity in the brain and how it can be altered by experience. For example, when a person becomes blind, the occipital lobe can redirect its attention to other sensory experiences, such as sound. This study and others led Eberhardt to ask questions about the neuroscience of face recognition, particularly in regard to race. The fusiform face area (FFA) is responsible for helping humans distinguish between the familiar and unfamiliar. She worked with a team at Stanford to explore whether the basic functioning of the FFA could be influenced by race. The researchers found that the brains of participants had stronger reactions to faces of similar races, thereby revealing that race could influence the most basic functions of people’s brains.

Eberhardt links this study to a string of robberies which occurred in Chinatown in 2014. Multiple cases of purses being stolen by Black young men were popping up, but the middle-aged Asian women whose purses were taken were unable to distinguish the perpetrators in police line-ups. Because the young men knew the women would be unable to identify them, the crowded streets gave them the opportunity to use their own faces as masks.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Stereotypes are a result of categorization, a function of the brain that “allows us to organize and manage the overload of stimuli that constantly bombard us” (24). The ability of human brains to categorize helps them to make judgments and develop patterns. However, categorization can also negatively affect racial awareness. In one study, researchers presented Latino participants with pictures of racially ambiguous faces with different hairstyles typically worn by either African Americans or Latinos. Participants were better able to later recognize the faces of those who had hairstyles congruent with their own race and culture.

Categorization, although a natural function of the brain, is “a precursor to bias” (30). The beliefs and attitudes people have about specific categorizations translate as stereotypes and prejudice. The term “stereotype” was coined by Walter Lippmann, a journalist with his own bias, in the 1920s. Stereotypes are so culturally pervasive that they can affect how people perceive facial expressions; in one study, white participants were asked to evaluate various expressions on Black faces. Participants high in racial prejudice were more likely to identify the expressions of ambiguous faces which they were told were Black as aggressive, even when the expressions were neutral.

Eberhardt explains that bias can infiltrate those in a biased environment. Studies show that biased parents tend to have biased children. In television shows with Black lead actors, researchers found that white actors use more negative non-verbal actions toward their Black counterparts. In one study, these small aggressions increased the levels of anti-Black bias of viewers on an implicit association test. These examples exhibit how bias functions as a kind of disease, permeating every aspect of culture. =

Part 1 Analysis

In these first few chapters, Eberhardt creates a foundation of understanding that will bolster the rest of the book. In order to explore the depth of bias’s influence, she first establishes what bias is and where it comes from. It is imperative to understand that bias is a result of natural brain cognition, a byproduct of categorization, because this allows the author and the readers to explore bias together from an objective position. In the introduction, Eberhardt describes speaking to a large group of law enforcement officers who appeared unreceptive to what she was saying. They believed she was there to cast judgment on them and their department. Like the readers of this book, the law enforcement officers approached her message with their own set of biases and prejudice. It is only when Eberhardt provided a personal example that the tension seemed to subside, and officers felt comfortable sharing their personal stories with her. By establishing bias as something that is innate rather than a conscious choice, the author can examine it from an objective space free from shame.

Eberhardt uses the same technique in the book, offering several personal examples to illustrate the everyday implications of bias and stereotyping. In Chapter 1, she utilizes her own experiences of struggling to recognize white faces in order to explore the ideas of categorization and race-selective response. In the second chapter, she shares a personal anecdote about a conversation with her son Ebbie, who had noticed how shoppers at the grocery store avoided or gave a wide berth to a Black customer. When asked why he thought this was, Eberhardt’s son responded, “I think it’s fear” (37).

These personal stories are an example of “pathos,” which means appeal to emotion. Aristotle coined the terms “pathos,” “logos,” and “ethos” as modes of persuasion for rhetorical appeals. The pathos appeal proves highly effective when Eberhardt speaks to law enforcement officers in the introduction. The author uses both pathos and logos, an appeal to logic, throughout the book. Logos comes in the form of the many studies cited by the author. Ethos is defined as appeal to the writer’s character. Eberhardt’s qualifications and rhetorical approach lend her credibility; “ethos” appeals to the speaker’s authority. Therefore, her argument forms what is called the “rhetorical triangle,” pulling from all three rhetorical appeals.

The use of personal examples and the establishment of bias as a result of natural brain function allow the reader to place aside guardedness; Eberhardt provides a framework for analyzing bias both personally and objectively without experiencing judgment. These chapters set forth that bias is natural response, the effects of which we see in small children, and that we can learn more about bias and its effects by studying the brain.

These chapters set out to prove two over-arching ideas. First, experience has the ability to shape the brain. The first chapter details several studies which show how outside factors can alter how the brain works. This knowledge led Eberhardt to question whether recognizing faces had something to teach about neurobiology. Researchers found that brains had stronger responses to same-race faces and that individuals were more able to recognize the faces which had a stronger neurological response later.

Second, the brain engages in a natural process of categorization which can lead to bias and stereotyping. Brains naturally use categorization to make sense of an overwhelming amount of stimuli. People’s experiences and unique cultures create a pattern of normalization, and their brains respond more vigorously to those patterns that seem to be “like us.” Over time, these categories can develop into stereotypes, the beliefs we have about social groups, and then prejudice, the attitudes we have about those stereotypes.