Konstantinos Manesiotis, week three, bias test

Examining my biases as an assignment was an exhilarating thing to be doing as classwork. I like philosophical thinking, and specifically enjoy self-reflection, and examination. In reflecting I try to sometimes examine where my biases might have come from; and accept the fact that they are there. I believe that the ideological biases and prejudices, that everyone exhibits, are influenced by the environment in which they were reared. This goes along with the bias article when it stated, “Social scientists believe children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes as toddlers. Many studies have shown that as early as age 3, children pick up terms of racial prejudice without really understanding their significance.” I’d like to examine this influence of society on the children, and specifically the societal environment within the family. For instance, if you are talking about bias and prejudice related indoctrinations that have made their way into our psychology by the age of three; the majority could be familial. There aren’t too many societal influences on a toddler outside of what the family permits and exhibits. That stage, when the brain is soaking up knowledge like a shamwow, is where I believe, a lot of my past and present prejudices were born. Some I’ve shaken off, due to their malicious or unneeded nature, other’s strange nature I’ve examined, and come to terms with, and some I’ve kept, because they are enjoyable to me. For example, I was raised Greek Orthodox, and the entire culture I grew up with was religious. My family celebrates Easter like any stereotypical Greek family (it’s interesting that I’m bringing up cultural stereotypes, during this week’s topic.) I grew up very religious and believed every word that my family and church spoke of it. However, I had a change of heart after I started to develop an aptitude of critical thinking that questioned anything it could; until something that made sense came out of it. I began to read more and more literature that was contrary to what I was hearing from my family and church. Until one day, I decided to take off my cross and never wear it again. Despite what my religious beliefs may now be as a twenty-three-year-old, I still hold respect for the morals that were taught to me through the religious doctrine of my youth. It would be very difficult to explain Nietzsche’s, Beyond Good and Evil, to a three-year-old, but the deeply moral, and philosophically inquisitive stories of the bible, can do just the trick. I’m not a non-believer who doesn’t like the bible, or other religious texts; I respect the teachings that can come out of them. Hopefully we can one day talk about any religious text, and The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins with equal respect given to all sides. That is a difficult thing to do. Lastly, I’d like to talk about what I thought my results would be for the racial bias test, and what the test said. Growing up in the environment I did, I’ve always thought I must have some bias towards white people, over black. Not that I have these specific thoughts, but some of my close family members can have colorful conversations on this topic. Therefore, I’ve always concluded that there must be some of that buried deep inside me. However, when I took the test, it came out that I have a strong bias and liking toward, and of black people. I thought that was interesting and strange at the same time. It was in total conflict with what I thought my bias was going to be. However, after some reflection I concluded that I must have been going out of my way to not seem in any way racist on the test, that it caught me over correcting my thoughts on the matter. I’m perfectly happy with the results, but I think it’s interesting how it opposes some of what I thought going into the test.