Implicit Bias

Based on what we have learned and experienced over the years, we may have developed some negative stereotypes towards groups and/or individuals. This is defined as implicit bias. In the 4 minute podcast with Alexis Johnson, she states that you can retrain your brain to see people differently. However, it takes a long period of time to actually do that.

It is interesting to see how our brains focus on certain bits of information in order to process things quicker. Like the implicit bias test I took, it wanted me to answer as fast as I could to see if my brain could keep up with the pace. Sometimes my brain would get ahead and cause my finger to hit the incorrect key. Same goes for the exercise given in the "4-Minute Listen" podcast. The start of the test administered, had phrases and to those phrases were answers that all seemed to rhyme with one another. When it came to  the phrase "the white part of the egg is called the..." Ailsa (podcaster) answered with the word yolk, when actually the answer was an egg white. Her brain didn't think about that fully, because each answer prior to had a connection and rhymed. I find it interesting that this exercise is used for implicit bias.

In the field of OT, it is important for us to challenge ourselves. We are human, but we want to train ourselves to remain open and overcome certain biases we may have.
The negative biases we may have could potentially effect us being out in to the field. We definitely don't want that to happen. We want OT to be looked upon as diverse, not just in the practice setting, but in our personal role as well. We want to adapt and have positive stereotypes the best we can. Despite the type of session we may be going through. Three things that could help me address my bias, is by doing the implicit bias test, focus on seeing people as individuals, and do my best to adjust my perspective.

Overall, my big take-away is to focus on the positive rather than the negative. Some days will be more challenging, but as an OT we are made to adjust and transform and we want to have a positive impact on our clients, no matter what the case may be.