The End of Bias: A Beginning: How We Eliminate Unconscious Bias and Create a More Just World

by Jessica Nordell

Overview

Finalist for the NYPL Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Lukas Book Prize, and the Royal Society Science Book Prize

Winner of the 2022 Nautilus Book Award Silver Medal and an Honorable Mention from the American Society of Journalists and Authors for General Nonfiction

Named a Best Book of the Year by World Economic Forum, AARP, Greater Good, and Inc.

The End of Bias is a transformative, groundbreaking exploration into how we can eradicate unintentional bias and discrimination, the great challenge of our age.

Discussions of unconscious bias typically focus on the problem, not on solutions. But how do we eradicate the unintentional prejudices that clash with our values and wreak havoc across medicine, the workplace, education, policing, and beyond?

To find out, award-winning journalist and writer Jessica Nordell undertook a global search for solutions. The culmination of fifteen years’ immersion in the subject, The End of Bias: A Beginning explores how bias ends: the police unit in California where new incentives improved police behavior and decreased both arrests and violent crime, the checklist used by doctors that erased gender disparities in treatment, the media intervention that reduced religious intolerance in France. Weaving gripping stories with scientific research and exquisite writing, Nordell paints riveting portraits of those leading change and interrogates her own biases with candor and insight.

Called “powerful” by Bloomberg and “rousing” by the Guardian, The End of Bias: A Beginning offers a hopeful, achievable vision: biased behavior can be remade and we can create a more just world.

Includes illustrated charts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250812087
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/16/2022
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	202,425
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jessica Nordell is a science and culture journalist whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, the New York Times, the New Republic, and many other publications. A former writer for public radio and producer for American Public Media, she graduated from Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The End of Bias: A Beginning is her first book.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I How Bias Works

1 The Chase 17

2 Inside the Biased Brain 41

3 How Much Does Everyday Bias Matter? 71

Part II Changing Minds

4 Breaking the Habit 91

5 The Mind, the Heart, the Moment 110

6 The Watts Jigsaw 143

Part III Making It Last

7 Designing for Flawed Humans 175

8 Dismantling Homogeneity 199

9 The Architecture of Inclusion 225

10 Unbreaking Culture 250

Conclusion 271

Notes 279

Acknowledgments 337

Index 341

Editorial Reviews

Thoughtful . . . rousing . . . As the author explains, overcoming internalised bias isn’t a matter of flipping a mental switch; it is a lifelong process of constantly questioning our deeply held beliefs. None of us is immune.”
—The Guardian

“Too often people think in terms of discrete moments—a degrading meeting here, a fleeting comment there—but Nordell points out that bias is often iterative and chronic . . . This isn’t a book that lets anyone off the hook. The End of Bias argues for a more profound sense of responsibility.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Drawing on insights from cognitive science and social psychology . . . the book presents many convincing accounts of personal bias being reduced through self-reflection [and] emphasizes, above all, the urgent need for systemic solutions.”
—The New Yorker

“The End of Bias: A Beginning opens up a new chapter on the movement to eradicate unconscious bias in some of its more pernicious arenas (education, policing, medicine, and beyond). Using a blend of scientific research and firsthand accounts, Nordell offers a practical approach to how we can move forward.”
—Sloane Crosley, Departures Magazine

“A shrewd dissection of the implicit bias in the human psyche and how it could be trained to transcend it. Nordell digs deep into the realms of cognitive and social psychology, anthropology and developmental research to identify all the factors that contribute to our implicit and unconscious biases . . . Nordell not only highlights errors in our cognitive processes but also goes into depth about how to rectify them . . . The End of Bias is an exhaustively researched, illuminating book on what leads to bias and how to avoid those pitfalls.”
—Rabeea Saleem, The Irish Times

“Could not be more timely.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“We all have unconscious bias; it underlies our most destructive behavior. But we can change it. Informative, compassionate and necessary.”
—Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being and The Book of Form and Emptiness, AARP Magazine

“Thought-provoking.”
—Forbes

“[The End of Bias: A Beginning] skilfully and sensitively explores ways to eradicate bias in society and oneself. Interviewing cognitive scientists and social psychologists, [Nordell] covers a huge range of methods, such as doctors’ diagnostic checklists for gender equality, and a police unit practising mindfulness to diminish its use of force.”
—Nature

“A gripping survey of the science of prejudice against the backdrop of racial and gender discrimination.”
—Irish Times

“Forthright . . . The End of Bias: A Beginning challenges readers to work to eliminate their individual biases, inviting them to embrace compassion and empathy . . . Nordell expertly lays out the problems with the status quo—a crucial step in working towards change.”
—New Statesman

“A virtuoso survey of scientific research on the causes of prejudice and programs [to address it] . . . Throughout, Nordell holds her own biases up to scrutiny . . . and draws vivid character sketches of her profile subjects. The result is a refreshingly optimistic and immersive look at how society can solve one of its thorniest problems.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Fascinating and helpful . . . Nordell clearly illuminates the psychology behind biases and the stories and lives of those negatively affected by them . . . Compelling.”
—Booklist

“Revealing . . . useful . . . A practical primer for those seeking to reduce the hegemony of bias in everyday life.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“In this highly engaging and well-researched book, Jessica Nordell weaves together a cogent blend of neuroscience and social science to explain the pervasiveness of unconscious bias and, most importantly, what we can do about it. Full of real-life examples and evidence-based interventions, The End of Bias: A Beginning demonstrates that change is possible. In need of some hope? Start here!”
—Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race

“Despite revolutions in our understanding of bias, we’re still much better at documenting the problem than solving it. When it comes to prevention and cure, Jessica Nordell’s powerful book is a breakthrough. With state-of-the-art science and gripping narratives, she reveals what concrete steps individuals, groups, and institutions can take to fight prejudice.”
—Adam Grant, author of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

“The End of Bias: A Beginning is a personal testament not only to the fiery mind of Jessica Nordell but to her heart’s yearning for a world in which equity and justice prevail. It is a reckoning with the tools of our time in confronting the problem of our time.”
—Kao Kalia Yang, author of Somewhere in the Unknown World: A Collective Refugee Memoir

“In an age of snap judgments and empty moralizing, The End of Bias: A Beginning is a salve and a lifeboat. Nordell accompanies her incredible depth of research with the kind of attention to nuance, self-examination, and genuine compassion that marks the difference between information and wisdom. This book will not just make you want to be a better person—it will convince you that others can be better, too, all while patiently lighting the way forward.”
—Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

From the Publisher

★ 08/09/2021

Journalist Nordell debuts with a virtuoso survey of scientific research on the causes of prejudice and programs that have “successfully reduced everyday bias and discrimination.” She delves into psychological concepts such as the “prejudice paradox” (people sincerely deny holding racist beliefs, yet still act in “racially discriminatory ways”) and “priming” (planting a thought in someone’s mind that changes their perception of the world); details the case of transgender neurobiologist Ben Barres, who became an activist for gender equality in science after he transitioned from a woman to a man in 1997; documents an LAPD community outreach program that reduced arrest rates and cut violent crime by teaching officers about the culture of public housing developments in Watts and east L.A. and shifting their focus from “making arrests to building relationships”; and explains how a French law firm improved performance by removing the barriers to advancement women with children had faced. Throughout, Nordell holds her own biases up to scrutiny, lucidly describes the methodology and findings of the copious psychological and sociological studies she cites, and draws vivid character sketches of her profile subjects. The result is a refreshingly optimistic and immersive look at how society can solve one of its thorniest problems. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

12/01/2020

Science and culture journalist Nordell delves into cognitive science, social psychology, and developmental research to explain how we can change implicit bias, that is, unintentional prejudiced behavior that contradicts our consciously held beliefs. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2021-07-24
Is it possible to end biases, personal and institutional? Science journalist Nordell believes so, but it will require plenty of work.

Nordell, a longtime student of prejudice and its origins, observes that there is a gulf “between the values of fairness and the reality of real-world discrimination,” a gulf defined by the term implicit or unconscious bias. It is costly: Undervaluing women, ethnic minorities, or other marginalized groups deprives society of potentially valuable contributions on the parts of those who are discriminated against. While recognizing that many barriers are deliberate, Nordell argues that most people don’t set out to make the sharp distinctions that engender them; the biases truly are unintended and, while learned, largely unexamined. The author’s case studies include a transgender research scientist who, having transitioned to a male, found that his abilities were far more valued than when he was female; an Asian American man who lacked math skills but was promoted into jobs that assumed he was a stereotypical numbers whiz; and an imaginary Black teenager who, presented to White audiences as having “behaved in an antisocial way,” was assumed to be a future felon and therefore more deserving of punishment than a White peer accused of the same thing. Nordell’s examples are revealing but lead to the same general set of conclusions, so there’s a certain sameness to the narrative that becomes more pronounced as it progresses. More useful are some of the recommended remedies, including “mindfulness meditation”—which, when adopted by one Oregon police department, led to a rapid decline in the use of force and citizen complaints—and counseling approaches that minimize shame while building awareness of bias and the motivation to imagine others' perspectives. "Colorblind" approaches, she writes, can backfire. These efforts pay off, she writes. Trust builds, relationships deepen; ina business context, “racially diverse teams where all employees were able to feel psychologically safe enough to learn from one another outperformed homogenous teams."

A practical primer for those seeking to reduce the hegemony of bias in everyday life.

Kirkus Reviews