Unraveling Bias

'Passionate and urgent.' Guardian, Book of the Week 'A must-read for all.' Stylist, best new books for 2020 'Cogently argued and intensely persuasive. Groundbreaking Work.' Waterstones, best new books of April 'Impressive and much-needed.' Financial Times, Best Business Books April to June 'Admirably detailed.' Prospect Magazine 'Practical, useful, readable and essential for the times we are living in.' Nikesh Shukla 'An eye-opening book that I hope will be widely read.' Angela Saini 'If you think you don't need to read this book, you really need to read this book.' Jane Garvey 'An eye-opening book looking at unconscious bias. Meticulously researched and well written. It will make you think hard about the judgements you make. An essential read for our times.' Kavita Puri, BBC Journalist and author For the first time, behavioural and data scientist, activist and writer Dr Pragya Agarwal unravels the way our implicit or 'unintentional' biases affect the way we communicate and perceive the world, how they affect our decision-making, and how they reinforce and perpetuate systemic and structural inequalities. Sway is a thoroughly researched and comprehensive look at unconscious bias and how it impacts day-to-day life, from job interviews to romantic relationships to saving for retirement. It covers a huge number of sensitive topics - sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, colourism - with tact, and combines statistics with stories to paint a fuller picture and enhance understanding. Throughout, Pragya clearly delineates theories with a solid grounding in science, answering questions such as: do our roots for prejudice lie in our evolutionary past? What happens in our brains when we are biased? How has bias affected technology? If we don't know about it, are we really responsible for it? At a time when partisan political ideologies are taking centre stage, and we struggle to make sense of who we are and who we want to be, it is crucial that we understand why we act the way we do. This book will enables us to open our eyes to our own biases in a scientific and non-judgmental way.

NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER — PARENTING & FAMILY • 2022 IPPY AWARDS GOLD MEDALIST — PARENTING “Timely, informative, thought-provoking, inspirationally motivating.” —Midwest Book Review "[Brown] offers pragmatic advice for teachers on how to stand up for diversity and inclusiveness in the classroom." —San Francisco Book Review We need only scan the latest news headlines to see how bias and prejudice harm adults and children alike—every single day. Police shootings that give rise to the Black Lives Matter revolution . . . rampant sexual harassment of women and the subsequent #MeToo movement . . . extreme violence toward trans men and women. It would be easy to fix these problems if the examples stopped with a few racist or sexist individuals, but there are also biases embedded in our government policies, media, and institutions. As a developmental psychologist and international expert on stereotypes and discrimination in children, Dr. Christia Spears Brown knows that biases and prejudice don’t just develop as people become adults (or CEOs or politicians). They begin when children are young, slowly growing and exposed to prejudice in their classrooms, after-school activities, and, yes, even in their homes, no matter how enlightened their parents may consider themselves to be. The only way to have a more just and equitable world—not to mention more broad-minded, empathetic children—is for parents to closely examine biases beginning in childhood and how they infiltrate our kids’ lives. In her new book Unraveling Bias: How Prejudice Has Shaped Children for Generations and Why It's Time to Break the Cycle, Dr. Brown will uncover what scientists have learned about how children are impacted by biases, and how we adults can help protect them from those biases. Part science, part history, part current events, and part call to arms, Unraveling Bias provides readers with the answers to vital questions: • How do biased policies, schools, and media harm our children? • Where does childhood prejudice come from, and how do these prejudices shape children’s behavior, goals, relationships, and beliefs about themselves? • What can we learn from modern-day science to help us protect our children from these biases? Few issues today are as critical as being aware of bias and prejudice all around us and making sure our kids don’t succumb to them. To change lives and advance society, it’s time to unravel our biases—starting with the future leaders of the world.

In his nearly thirty years at CBS News, Emmy Award–winner Bernard Goldberg earned a reputation as one of the preeminent reporters in the television news business. When he looked at his own industry, however, he saw that the media far too often ignored their primary mission: objective, disinterested reporting. Again and again he saw that they slanted the news to the left. For years Goldberg appealed to reporters, producers, and network executives for more balanced reporting, but no one listened. The liberal bias continued. In this classic number one New York Times bestseller, Goldberg blew the whistle on the news business, showing exactly how the media slant their coverage while insisting they’re just reporting the facts.

Using a wealth of anecdotes, data from academic literature, and original research, this very accessible little book highlights how we all struggle to cope with the maelstrom of choices, influences and experiences that come our way. The authors have slogged through piles of dry research papers to provide many wonderful nuggets of information and surprising insights. For example: Why is an upside-down red triangle such a powerful warning sign on the road? What is the best kind of alibi? What makes the number 7 so special? Why is it better to whisper words of love into the left ear? Will that recent marriage last? Why is it that the French eat snails but not slugs? The reader will discover the amazing tools and shortcuts that millennia of evolution have built into our brains. And this knowledge is power! Knowing more about how the human mind connects the dots helps us understand why decision-making is so tricky. With insights from evolutionary psychology, we become better equipped to understand ourselves and others and to interact and communicate more effectively.

In this timely book, journalist Lisa Benson shares her journey from the newsroom to the courtroom in her fight for justice at a local television station. Lisa made national news when her twenty-year career as a news reporter / anchor ended abruptly after she shared an article on her personal Facebook page entitled, "How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Avoid Accountability" written by fellow journalist Ruby Hamad—an article that offended two of her white female coworkers, which ultimately got her fired. After being terminated for sharing TheGuardian.com article, Lisa committed herself to understanding racism, unconscious biases, institutionalized racism, and how those issues factored into her stagnant career and job loss. In this book, courtroom testimony, along with exhibits, prove that the employer expected to support Lisa's career goals only wanted to harness and control her labor while silencing her voice. Guilty of racial ignorance, Lisa foolishly believed that if she worked hard, played by the rules, and people liked her, she could avoid the racial pitfalls that swallowed the dreams of her forefathers and condemned others to a life of criminalization, poverty, and shame. She was wrong. Lisa's book is a powerful, transparent look at the racism, systemic racism, and the anti-blackness that exists in cities, neighborhoods, and newsrooms throughout the United States. "Hi Lisa, I am so sorry to hear of this ordeal - I can only imagine the impact. I am glad you have turned to anti-racist education, and I hope my work has been/can be helpful to you. But for what it is worth - on behalf of my fellow white people, I apologize." -Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility Lisa Benson is a diversity, inclusion and anti-racism consultant, speaker, author and Emmy-award winning journalist. She has helped countless people understand unconsious biases and systemic racism. Lisa wants her knowledge and first-hand experiences to help others navigate systems, institutions and organizations when it comes to race and institutionalized racism.

One of the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2015 One of Financial Times' Books of the Year, 2015 A New York Times Editors' Choice A New Statesman [UK] Essential Book of the Year 2015 A Times [UK] Book of the Year 2015 Shortlisted for the 2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction Shortlisted for the 2016 Orwell Prize When Emma Sky volunteered to help rebuild Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, she had little idea what she was getting in to. Her assignment was only supposed to last three months. She went on to serve there longer than any other senior military or diplomatic figure, giving her an unrivaled perspective of the entire conflict. As the representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Kirkuk in 2003 and then the political advisor to US General Odierno from 2007-2010, Sky was valued for her knowledge of the region and her outspoken voice. She became a tireless witness to American efforts to transform a country traumatized by decades of war, sanctions, and brutal dictatorship; to insurgencies and civil war; to the planning and implementation of the surge and the subsequent drawdown of US troops; to the corrupt political elites who used sectarianism to mobilize support; and to the takeover of a third of the country by the Islamic State. With sharp detail and tremendous empathy, Sky provides unique insights into the US military as well as the complexities, diversity, and evolution of Iraqi society. The Unraveling is an intimate insider's portrait of how and why the Iraq adventure failed and contains a unique analysis of the course of the war. Highlighting how nothing that happened in Iraq after 2003 was inevitable, Sky exposes the failures of the policies of both Republicans and Democrats, and the lessons that must be learned about the limitations of power.

Illuminating detailed methods for assessing bias in commonly used I.Q., aptitude, and achievement tests, Jensen argues that standardized tests are not biased against Englishspeaking minority groups and describes the uses of such tests in education and employment.

"Poignant....important and illuminating."—The New York Times Book Review "Groundbreaking."—Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy From one of the world’s leading experts on unconscious racial bias come stories, science, and strategies to address one of the central controversies of our time How do we talk about bias? How do we address racial disparities and inequities? What role do our institutions play in creating, maintaining, and magnifying those inequities? What role do we play? With a perspective that is at once scientific, investigative, and informed by personal experience, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt offers us the language and courage we need to face one of the biggest and most troubling issues of our time. She exposes racial bias at all levels of society—in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and criminal justice system. Yet she also offers us tools to address it. Eberhardt shows us how we can be vulnerable to bias but not doomed to live under its grip. Racial bias is a problem that we all have a role to play in solving.