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- [Announcer] How can talking about diversity,
difference and bias help me?
- Diversity presents unique personal, social
and economic opportunities for understanding,
collaboration, innovation,
and for increasing purchasing power.
But most importantly,
the presence of diversity and difference allows us
to understand our own humanity.
With media coverage about the changing demographics
of the U.S., some have reacted
with concerns about how this may impact their housing,
education and economic opportunities,
their political representation,
and even their sense of safety.
What has surfaced from these national conversations
is that people don't necessarily understand each other.
When you're worried about yourself,
you don't stop to think about what you might
have in common with your neighbor
and those who might be different from you.
You begin to build walls to separate and protect yourself
from imagined harm, rather than bridges to understanding.
The resulting ignorance can lead
to misunderstandings that can escalate
in a culture where some groups and voices
are visibly represented and feel more valued than others.
Interactions with diverse peer groups encourage us to learn
from each other, to understand perspectives
that reflect different experiences
and various social backgrounds,
and to gain the cultural competence critical
to effective local and global leadership.
But most importantly,
it helps us become better humans.
- [Announcer] But it's uncomfortable to talk
about this stuff.
Do you have to be an expert to talk about bias?
- This is a great question.
Sometimes when we talk about what it means to be American,
there can be a tendency to talk
about democracy and diversity,
as if it's a positive and a given in our society.
It exists, we're a democratic nation.
So what else is there to say?
For those who want to dive a little deeper
and question the presence of democracy
or talk about inequity and bias,
they may run the risk of being perceived as unpatriotic,
impolite, irrelevant, whereas making an unnecessary
nod to being politically correct.
These dismissive or shaming reactions are a common attempt
to prevent us from engaging in difficult dialogues,
and exploring solutions that might disrupt
the current state of affairs.
We can't know if our democratic system
is working for everyone if we avoid discussions
of whether we have created a society and culture
that is respectful and inclusive of plurality indifference.
We can't accomplish this unless all voices
are heard and represented.
For this reason, we must push past the discomfort
and be willing to exercise courage
to engage in these conversations.
And you don't have to be an expert to do it.
Even experts in the area of race, racism
and diversity, admit they must continuously dialogue
and learn about the topic,
because our social contexts are constantly changing.
Self-reflection is not always easy,
and engaging in meaningful dialogue can be even harder.
Dialogue can be uncomfortable,
whether you're an expert on the topic or not.
Because there's always something more we can learn.
It's important to remember that sometimes discomfort
can be a sign of growth.
We must not shy away from disagreeing with others.
In order to build our confidence and engaging in dialogue,
it's important to begin with learning
about the topic and self-reflecting.
It's also important to remember that dialogue
does not always idealize or see common ground.
Instead, it seeks to promote understanding.
You're free to disagree with others,
but the goal is to have an engaged
and meaningful interaction
where diverse perspectives, voices,
and experiences can be shared.
We become better at understanding, teaching
and talking about diversity,
when we continuously educate ourselves,
and purposefully engage discussions about difference,
what accounts for it,
and by regularly interacting with people
from all walks of life.
In this series, you will be asked to think about topics
and questions that may challenge your personal beliefs.
And you'll be asked to go out and talk to other people
about what you're learning, to dialogue.
Although this can be intimidating,
it's important to stick with it and try.
- [Announcer] How are social categories formed?
And how do they contribute to bias?
- A person's actions and attitudes
are shaped by their world view.
A world view refers to a set of assumptions about physical
and social reality, and can have powerful effects
on how we think and behave.
A schema is a basic building block
for how we develop a world view.
Schemas are shortcuts that have been informed
by our experiences or learning,
that help us sort specific examples into broader categories,
and tell us how to act or behave in certain situations.
These shortcuts can sometimes cause us to associate a person
or an action with a particular group,
which then causes us to react automatically or unconsciously
in ways we think are acceptable.
For instance, if you look at me,
you might automatically categorize me as belonging
to a particular gender, race and age group.
Those classifications may lead you to assume certain things
about me like what I'm like, and what I like as a person.
It's important to remember that a person's world view
can be developed from limited or incomplete information.
Lack of exposure to diverse experiences and people
can cause the individual to develop specific attitudes
or stereotypes about the group they believe
that person belongs to.
When this happens, this can cause the individual
to develop prejudice and biases
they may not be conscious of.
And there can be individual level biases, conscious biases,
unconscious biases, and there can be systemic level biases.
When grouped together, schemas contribute
to our overall world view.
- [Announcer] Are sympathy and empathy the same thing?
How do they contribute to emotional intelligence?
- Yes and no.
Emotional intelligence generally refers
to our ability to recognize, understand and manage
our own emotions,
and to understand and influence the emotions of others.
Empathy is part of being emotionally intelligent.
But being emotionally intelligent is not limited
to having empathy for others.
Let me make a distinction between two important terms here,
sympathy and empathy.
Often people use the term sympathy to convey pity
or a wish to help others, but that's not what I mean.
Empathy is a cognitive, respectful, intentional
and focused act, that allows us to basically
see things from another person's perspective.
It means we understand how their history,
life experiences and identity
may cause them to experience or understand a situation
in a particular way.
This is a bit like putting yourself
into someone else's shoes and walking around in them.
Sympathy refers to experiencing a shared emotion
or connection with another person.
It means you feel their joy, their pain, their anger,
or their sadness.
Developing a healthy sense of sympathy
and empathy is important.
And certainly presents implications
for increasing one's emotional intelligence.
It's what allows us to connect with others
and better understand things from their perspective.
This has important implications for our democracy.
Here's what I mean.
If democracy and dialogue function through distribution
or balance of power,
then power is not something
which can be balanced with rules.
It requires awareness of ourselves and each other.
And listening to one another,
there's the potential for moments of mutual witness,
rendering listening a moral act.
While dialogue in the exchange
of stories may break silences,
they may also encourage listeners
to view sociopolitical problems in individualistic terms.
For this reason, it's important to engage dialogue
and listening with the goal of being empathetic
and why dialogue is so valuable.
There are certainly ways you can increase your ability
to empathize and sympathize with others.
Some suggestions include keeping a journal,
taking notes, or recording instances
in which you experienced
or witnessed empathic thinking or action.
Making an active effort to imagine yourself
in other people's situations.
Listening to the feelings
and needs of the people around you, without interrupting.
And asking them about their feelings and needs.
Seeking opportunities for new experiences.
Attending events and settings
you might normally avoid or ignore.
Practicing having a conversation with someone new.
This means diving deeper than small talk,
to have talk about topics of substance.
- [Announcer] Is listening
to someone different from hearing?
- Yes, there is a difference between listening and hearing.
Hearing refers to the physiological act
of perceiving sound by the ear.
If you're not hearing impaired,
hearing simply happens.
Listening is something you consciously choose to do.
It requires concentration
so that your brain processes meaning
from words and sentences.
When we engage in the work featured in these courses,
we're asking you to engage
in active multisensory listening.
Remember, we listen with more than just our ears.
We engage in listening with our eyes,
with our touch and with smell.
We listen to our gut.
We listen to our memories.
We listen to silences.
Just as the words and voices of stories are important,
so are the silences.
The development of empathy requires us to look
and listen closely, in order to identify the silences
and understand what those silences mean
for promoting or upholding a healthy,
just, democratic society.
Silences can be literal,
as in there being no noise or activity.
Silence can also be protest,
working to convey other messages.
These types of silences are symbolic.
They're symbolic absences that can be neither seen
nor heard, but can be recognized,
if you're paying attention, to the voices and experiences
that are typically silenced or excluded
from important everyday practices.
Sometimes stories and silences are not intended
for our entertainment or to help us pass the time,
and establish a one-time connection.
Stories can be offered with the hope for action
that is rooted in addressing
and correcting community and social concerns.
Remember, there are dangers to not listening.
This can be intentionally done by individuals
or institutions who wish to ignore or dismiss the presence,
needs, rights, voices and struggles of others.
When this happens, we become complicit in perpetuating
the hurt and silence of those around us.
- [Announcer] What if I disagree
with the person I'm listening to?
How do I disagree agreeably?
- The goal of engaging or promoting civil discussion
about diversity and difference,
as well as opportunities to engage in self-reflection
and self-efficacy,
is to promote the intellectual development
of ourselves and others,
by helping us understand connections
between controversial topics and our everyday lives.
If we don't interrogate our place in the world,
consider our own diversity and that of those around us,
we aren't engaging in the plurality
of our democratic nation.
You needn't agree with what is being said.
Your goal is simply to understand
where a person is coming from.
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