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Invisibilia for June 22, 2017: The Other Self

How does the culture help shape the reality each of us lives in?

In this episode we explore a theory about prejudice that has taken hold in recent years: implicit bias.

The rise of this concept was facilitated by the public release of a psychological test that can be done online called the Implicit Association Test, which purports to measure a secret, hidden part of ourselves that most of us can’t directly access: our racism. Although embraced by many as an incredible breakthrough in our understanding of the human psyche, it has also received pushback from groups and individuals who don’t believe that it is accurately measuring bias.

In this story we follow the development of the test and theory of implicit bias and talk to several people who are trying to confront and change their other self.