Belief, 2

Metaphor: vehicles create traffic—then

traffic can impact (enhance or impede) the vehicles

The brain creates the mind—then the mind can

impact and direct the brain

In a similar way, once beliefs are firmly entrenched they can then impact your brain’s initial bias assessment . . .

Anger, hate, or fear for something that is “different” may surface when that might not otherwise have happened.

More tomorrow

Belief

Belief can be defined as a state of mind in which you perceive the likelihood of something being true with or without empirical evidence—observation or experience alone.

Since every brain is different, some say there are

a minimum of 7-plus billion beliefs on this planet

Humans develop beliefs about everything and once imbedded in your brain, a belief can take on a life of its own, with little thought given to how it started or where it came from or if it is still even valid or ever was valid …  

More tomorrow

Bias, 4

Healthy discrimination based on bias assessments can help you avoid danger. Unmanaged, it can run riot and turn into bullying and bigotry. How could that happen? Based on one frightening experience, an individual might jump to a global assumption. Or, a trusted adult could pass along a perception based on his/her own unfortunate experience. Or, a biological ancestor’s “bad” experience (mentally, emotionally, or physically) was epigenetically filed away in cellular memory—and passed down in family lines to the third and fourth generation. Fortunately, learned perspectives can be reevaluated and relearned, often by just getting to know someone different from you. Many have eventually decided that diversity can be enriching. Bottom line? Identify your own brain bias and alter what is erroneous. 

Bias, 3

I have tried to slow down this bias assessment to identify what my brain notices first:

•Human or non-human

•If human, male or female

•Size of the person and hair

•Skin color

•Tattoos

•Clothing - kempt or unkempt

•Unwell or injured

•Impaired (alcohol/drugs) or aggressive

Bias, 2

At nano-second speed the brain evaluates:

Have I seen this person (or creature, object, 

substance, food, environment, ideology…) 

before?

If it is a person, are they like me?

If no, how are they different and am I SAFE?

Your brain’s “bias” assessment prompts you to approach or withdraw—to “move forward toward” or “move back away”—from the person or thing. More tomorrow.

Bias

Bias can be defined as an inclination in favor of or against something (person, place, thing, creature, creepy-crawly, food, object, substance, food, odor, environment, music, race, culture, skin color, ideology…) The brain appears to have a “built-in bias” for or against another and typical feels “safer” and more comfortable around familiar people or things. When the brain sees something—especially for the first time—it goes on high alert and tends to makes  nano-second decisions about safety.

4 B’s (Brain, Bias, Bullying, Bigotry)

The brain appears to come equipped with a built-in “for-or-against” evaluation system. No surprise it tends to feel safer and more comfortable with what is “familiar” and can feel unsafe with unfamiliar people, places, and things. Almost anywhere on planet earth today one can hear about, if not actually see or experience personally, examples of what I term the 4 B’s. Studies have suggested some interesting aspects of how they interact with each other and ways in which they may be linked. The 4 B’s are:

• ·       Bias
• ·       Belief
• ·       Bullying
• ·       Bigotry

More tomorrow.