How to harness your own biases
4/17/202654 min
It’s easy to admit to having biases, but much harder to pin down what they are, let alone figure out what to do about them. Nevertheless, IDEAS producer Tom Howell gives it his best shot. He looks into what the rewards might be, if we could name and identify our own most important biases.
This episode is part one of a three-part series exploring the meaning of 'bias.' It originally aired on Sept. 7, 2021.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
Who's your favorite writer of all time? And if you could sit down and have dinner with them, what would you ask? It might be tough to get a dinner date, but I can try to give you the next best thing. I'm Mattea Roach. On my podcast, Bookends, I sit down for honest conversations with some of today's literary stars, people like Zadie Smith, Ken Follett, R.F. Kuang, and Louise Penny. Whether you love books or just want a new perspective on your every day, check out Bookends with Mattea Roach wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 10:31
[upbeat music] This is a CBC podcast.
Nahlah Ayed· Host0:36
I'm Nahlah Ayed. Welcome to Ideas. [upbeat jazz music] Today, pinning down what we can do about bias.
Speaker 30:47
Have you ever seen someone make a judgment before all the facts are in? It may have been bias. My brain contains the thumbprint of the culture in which I live, and that's now in my head.
Speaker 01:03
No, I'm saying most Canadians, in fact, are not racist.
Tali Sharot· Guest1:06
But I don't know that for a fact.
Speaker 01:07
Well, I know that for a fact because ...
Nahlah Ayed· Host1:10
The word bias is many centuries old, but what people mean by it changes.
Speaker 11:16
How do I pick a bias?
Tom Howell1:18
And it's important that you understand these different approaches, 'cause they're biases, and I have my bias, and I'll talk about that.
Speaker 61:22
We see this often in social media comments when accusations of bias and fallacies are indiscriminately