This week I found it helpful to recognize the types of social
biases and errors we make. Learning what they are will help me be aware when I
make one or help me not make the biases in the first place. The first error is
a “one of them/one of us” error. In this error we group people as either with
us or not. This creates a problem because we treat those not ‘with’ us
differently and often badly. Social expectations are the next type of bias. We
often have collective delusions of people because it is socially acceptable,
regardless of our worldview. Next is the group pressure and conformity.
Behaving in a way that we would not normally because the rest of the group is,
is what this error is. We want to fit in with the group we are with so we do
what everybody is doing. Lastly we often commit diffusion of responsibility.
This is where when there is a large amount of people together the chance of
somebody helping in an emergency is lower because everybody thinks somebody
else will do something.
I agree with you; it is important to understand what kind of social biases there are so that we can prevent them happening in ourselves or even learn from them after. I think the “one of them/one of us” error occurs mostly in situation where we find ourselves uncomfortable and we identify by race, language, or gender most frequently. I think the most troubling issue is the conformity/group pressure issue. This is because we do not act ourselves, which is a great problem affecting character. Also, a VERY important issue is the diffusion of responsibility. This is seen through the Kitty Genovese story, where dozens of people watched as she was brutally murdered.
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