Blindspot

“In their new book Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People authors Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwal, argue that we are all biased. They don’t come right out and say we are prejudiced; yet they allude to it more and more as the book progresses.”— New York Journal of Books

“Citing the influence of “mindbugs”—ingrained judgments and biases that unconsciously influence behavior—social psychologists Banaji and Greenwald, professors at Harvard and the University of Washington, respectively, provide an accessible and persuasive account of the causes of stereotyping and discrimination. Using numerous tests and data sets, the authors demonstrate that while most Americans are not overtly racist, a majority show implicit preferences for whites versus African-Americans, which can lead to discriminatory treatment of the latter and economic and social disparities.”— Publishers Weekly

“The book’s tone is careful and professorial, though not academic—there’s the occasional joke and exclamation point. Banaji and Greenwald, professors of psychology at Harvard and the University of Washington, respectively, make a point of sticking close to the data.” — The Washington Post

“In a new book, Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Banaji and her co-author, Anthony Greenwald, a social psychologist at the University of Washington, turn the conventional way people think about prejudice on its head.” — NPR

“In a brilliant book called Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald provide valuable insights about the causes and consequences of unconscious biases. They also provide us with a framework to identify costly blind spots, and with tools to minimize their risks and negative influences.” — Huffington Post

“Whether we know it or not, we all harbor biases against others and even ourselves, according to the authors of Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People. But wait, you may be thinking, certainly I’m not prejudiced! Alas, results of research by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald suggest that even the most egalitarian-minded people can show bias for their “group” over others. This hard-wired prejudice evolved as a means of survival, say Banaji and Greenwald. But in a modern world that now values cooperation over competition, their research is working to find ways to “outsmart the machine” in our heads.”— Books for Better Living

“Mahzarin R Banaji, who teaches at Harvard University, and Anthony G Greenwald, professor at University of Washington, have written an intelligible book that packs a serious punch. Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People is all about acknowledging that our mind does have a blind spot, which, in the authors' words, is a portion of the mind that ‘contains a large set of biases and keeps them hidden.’ The authors term these implicit biases "mindbugs", or, simply, ‘ingrained habits of thought that lead to errors in how we perceive, remember, reason, and make decisions.’” — Business Standard