Blindspot

By: Mahzarin R. Banaji, Anthony G. Greenwald

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

I know my own mind.

I am able to assess others in a fair and accurate way.

These self-perceptions are challenged by leading psychologists Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald as they explore the hidden biases we all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, and nationality.

Blindspot is the authors’ metaphor for the portion of the mind that houses hidden biases. Writing with simplicity and verve, Banaji and Greenwald question the extent to which our perceptions of social groups - without our awareness or conscious control - shape our likes and dislikes and our judgments about people’s character, abilities, and potential.

In Blindspot, the authors reveal hidden biases based on their experience with the Implicit Association Test, a method that has revolutionized the way scientists learn about the human mind and that gives us a glimpse into what lies within the metaphoric blindspot.

The title’s "good people" are those of us who strive to align our behavior with our intentions. The aim of Blindspot is to explain the science in plain enough language to help well-intentioned people achieve that alignment. By gaining awareness, we can adapt beliefs and behavior and "outsmart the machine" in our heads so we can be fairer to those around us. Venturing into this book is an invitation to understand our own minds.

Brilliant, authoritative, and utterly accessible, Blindspot is a book that will challenge and change listeners for years to come.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2013 Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

It's alright, thankfully not too long

Though I was already aware of my bias and have been through many training sessions with my job on diversity & inclusion, unconscious bias, etc., I thought "Blindspot" hit many of the high points that these training sessions and conferences touch on.

The best feature of this book, in my opinion, was the Implicit Association Test (IAT). While reading the book, I went to the website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit...) and took a few of their tests. I found them interesting and introspective.

Pros: quick book around the psychology of bias - not too lengthy or dry.
Cons: I couldn't put my finger on it, but somehow I felt that the book had an agenda. Maybe that was my unconscious bias at work ; )
Bottom line: a good, quick read on bias and how you can use various tools to examine your own bias in the workplace, community, and greater public.

Pretty good

It was ok, but I was hoping for more interesting and diverse psychology. The book is centered mostly on race relations/biases and on “IAT results”— which I’m not convinced accurately measure prejudice so much as it measures same group familiarity.

So... not my favorite book but mildly interesting.

I learned so much

this book taught me more about our society than I thought I'd ever known. Ee need to learn to grow as people. This is a great starting point.

Great book

Blindspot was weird at some points to be listening to. There are several visual references and activities included in the book that I did not get to participate in when listening to the audio version. Other than that, this book was very interesting and would recommend

good idea, started fast but dragged on

great narration, struggled to finish. interesting premise, but under whelming. would have been more interesting with more tests/surprising results

Meh.

was just okay. ending was disappointing as it didn't really provide tangible and practical suggestions for eliminating bias other than exposure and priming. i could also attribute this to being an old book.

A good eye opener for those who want to see

Very eye-opening lots of evidence of how pervasive or unconscious biases are in our everyday lives and decisions. Should be required reading for all Americans.

A must read for anyone with a brain

In Blindspot, the authors reveal how our mind works in regards to processing information quickly and how this process works against us and actually reveals our biases. After reading this book, I took the implicit bias assessment from Harvard and was motivated to learn more about how to enhance our critical thinking skills by training ourselves to see multiple perspectives. That then led me to a ‘rabbit hole’ of mini sessions about seeing perspectives. It is actually a trained skill and I look forward to continuing to train my brain to see and look for bias in my thought processes and actions.

Good book boring narration

Very good book but it would be better to read than listen to the boring narration.

Interesting and academically rigorous…but

But it mostly proves something most of us already knew: there is broad unconscious prejudice even though stated prejudice has decreased over time. More importantly it offers little in exploring what causes some individuals to overcome this evolutionary bias. What systematic actions we can take to to offset such bias (beyond putting musicians behind a screen when applying for a job…which is an incredibly elitist example)?