Dolly Chugh, How Good People Fight Bias
Dolly Chugh, an award-winning psychologist and NYU professor, discusses human bias, implicit bias, and bounded ethicality. She explains how the mind is trainable and offers strategies for acknowledging and working with our biases to foster personal growth and contribute to a more equitable society.
Deep Dive Analysis
9 Topic Outline
Introduction to Bias and the Trainable Mind
Why Address Biases: Idealistic and Selfish Reasons
Dolly Chugh's Personal Journey and Research Focus
Understanding Unconscious Associations and Implicit Bias
The 'Good Person' vs. 'Good-ish Person' Framework
The Role of Shame and Growth Mindset in Addressing Bias
Heat vs. Light Approaches in Social Movements
The Power of Changing Norms Through 'Heat'
Making Learning Visible: Leaders Admitting Biases
8 Key Concepts
Implicit Bias
Unconscious associations we've internalized that link certain groups of people with specific attributes. These associations can operate outside our awareness and sometimes lead us away from being the person we intend to be.
Bounded Ethicality
Unintentional, unethical behavior that stems from the automatic, unconscious workings of the mind. This concept highlights how people can act unethically without conscious intent or awareness.
Good Person Identity
A self-perception that is binary, where one is either a 'good person' or not, a 'racist' or not. This rigid identity leaves no room for growth or mistakes, often leading to defensiveness when biases are pointed out.
Good-ish Person Identity
A mindset that views oneself as a work in progress, acknowledging that mistakes will happen. This identity fosters a willingness to learn and grow from errors, promoting a growth mindset when biases are noticed.
Growth Mindset
A perspective, as described by Carol Dweck, where one views their abilities and skills as malleable and capable of improvement. When in this mindset, brain activity increases upon noticing an error, signaling an opportunity to learn.
Fixed Mindset
The opposite of a growth mindset, where one views their abilities as static and unchangeable. In this mindset, brain activity decreases when an error is noticed, as there is perceived to be nothing to learn, leading to disregard or explanation of the mistake.
Heat vs. Light (Social Change)
Two approaches to fostering social change: 'light' involves educating others and considering their comfort, while 'heat' involves confrontational tactics that do not prioritize comfort. Successful social movements often utilize both approaches.
Making Learning Visible
The practice of senior leaders openly acknowledging and discussing their own unconscious biases and the process of learning and improving in this area. This transparency is considered the most impactful action for driving organizational change regarding bias.
5 Questions Answered
Addressing biases helps create a more equitable society and also leads to greater success in professional settings, as data shows diverse teams function better.
A 'good person' identity is a rigid, binary view that leaves no room for mistakes, while a 'good-ish person' identity embraces being a work in progress and allows for learning and growth from errors.
Shame is counterproductive for changing behavior, as it shuts down learning and makes people unwilling to listen or engage with criticism.
Yes, research by Betsy Pollack suggests that changing social norms through 'heat' tactics can shape behavior, even if it doesn't immediately change underlying attitudes.
Senior executives should openly discuss their own unconscious biases and make their learning visible, as this buy-in from the top is crucial for any diversity training to be effective.
15 Actionable Insights
1. Train Your Mind as a Skill
Recognize that mental states like peace, focus, and even managing biases are trainable skills, not fixed traits, enabling you to actively work on developing them.
2. Adopt ‘Good-ish’ Mindset
Reframe your self-perception as a ‘good-ish’ person, a work in progress, to cultivate a mindset willing to learn, grow, and improve rather than a binary ‘good or bad’ identity.
3. Notice Biases, Don’t Eradicate
Prioritize noticing your biases when they arise, rather than attempting to make them disappear, as this awareness is the key to effectively dealing with them.
4. Make Your Learning Visible
Instead of defending mistakes, openly acknowledge when you’ve made one or are struggling, and express your intent to understand and learn from it, making your growth process transparent.
5. Leaders Share Bias Learning
Senior executives must openly discuss their personal learning journey and acknowledge their own unconscious biases, as their visible engagement is crucial for any diversity or bias training to impact others.
6. Frame Bias Sharing as Learning
When discussing your own biases, frame your statements as ‘here’s what I’m learning about myself’ to make your learning visible, and ensure your audience is educated on how the human mind works to avoid creating panic.
7. Validate Noticing Your Biases
When you see, name, and admit an implicit bias, acknowledge and validate yourself for that awareness, as it reduces the likelihood of acting on the bias.
8. Pay Attention to Errors
When you notice an error or a bias, actively engage a growth mindset by paying close attention to it as a valuable opportunity for learning and improvement.
9. Validate Before Criticizing
To effectively engage people’s ideas and minds, validate their identity and offer some positive affirmation (‘sugar’) before presenting criticism or asking for change.
10. Avoid Shame in Bias Work
Do not use shame or make people feel terrible for their biases, especially implicit ones, as it is a counterproductive strategy for encouraging ethical behavior change.
11. Balance Heat and Light
When engaging in social change, recognize that successful movements often utilize both ‘heat’ (confrontation, challenging norms) and ’light’ (education, meeting people where they are) rather than relying exclusively on one approach.
12. Receive Criticism with ‘Good-ish’ Mindset
Even when targeted by excessive political correctness or criticism, adopt a ‘good-ish’ mindset to identify useful insights within the message, rather than shutting down.
13. Overcome Bias for Success
Address your biases to improve your ability to work effectively with diverse teams and hire different kinds of people, which is crucial for professional success.
14. Reduce Bias for Better Society
Work to lessen your own biases, which are often injected by culture, to avoid acting them out blindly and contribute to a more equitable society.
15. Acknowledge Personal Biases
Recognize that implicit biases manifest in your own daily life, such as mixing up students or making gender assumptions, as this self-awareness is crucial for addressing them.
7 Key Quotes
The mental states we want are all skills. They're not factory settings that can't be tinkered with.
Dan Harris
All research is me-search... a lot of my research is about trying to understand how I can sort of understand and deal with and get better around these issues.
Dolly Chugh
The thesis of my book is that we have put ourself in this tight corner with no window. And that tight corner with no window is our good person identity.
Dolly Chugh
A goodish person is a work in progress.
Dolly Chugh
The movements that are most successful are the ones that have heat and light.
Dolly Chugh
If you're asking me for help while punching me in the mouth... I don't feel like helping you right now because my mouth is bleeding.
Dan Harris
Making your learning visible is something that I've actually... been talking to a lot of companies and organizations and executives since my book came out.
Dolly Chugh