The brain is naturally inclined to make generalizations — some true, some false, some good, some bad. When these generalizations result in stereotypes and biases, we have the power to self-regulate…to foster more positive connections, allowing individuals to communicate confidently with one another. Unconscious Bias: The Power of Positive Psychology uses positive psychology and relevant research to teach learners how unconscious biases form and what to do when they have an unconscious bias or are a target of someone else’s unconscious bias. This LIVE, virtual, instructor-led workshop features highly interactive exercises. Participants leave the course empowered to demonstrate inclusive behaviors and contribute to inclusive work cultures.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
- Recognize the value of questioning certainty as they take steps to confront unconscious bias
- Gain insights to how the brain works, how biases develop and why they’re bad for business
- Understand the fundamentals of cognitive psychology and how to avoid errors caused by automatic thinking
- Explore the power of the brain to undo flawed or biased thinking and provide more freedom of thought
- Eliminate stereotypes using 5 research-based strategies to reduce unconscious bias
- Investigate the costs and benefits associated with inclusive thinking and behavior
WORKSHOP AGENDA
Program time: 3 hours each day (6 hours total)
DAY 1
Session 1: Reconsidering Certainty and Doubt — Confronting Unconscious Bias
- Learn how to use doubt to question your own certainty
- Describe the role of certainty in your life and how you feel when something you were certain of is shown to be wrong
- Explain the value of using doubt to discover what you can actually be sure is true
- Summarize how relying too much on common sense can lead to errors in thinking
Session 2: Confirmation Bias — Believing What You See and Seeing What You Believe
- Explain what confirmation bias is and the role it plays in your personal life and work life
- Describe how confirmation bias could blind you to reality
- Identify what cognitive dissonance is and how it makes you feel
- Discuss how confirmation bias can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy
Session 3: Judgement and Decision-Making (Schemas and Heuristics)
- Discover how the way we see the world affects our behaviors and decisions.
- Explain how you use schemas to assimilate and accommodate new information and deal with the unknown
- Discuss how heuristics take the place of good decision making when we rely on automatic thinking
- Describe how availability and familiarity heuristics often lead to poor decision making when dealing with complicated problems, situations and experiences
DAY 2
Session 1: Executive Functions — The Power We Have
- Explain the power of the executive functions in your brain
- Discuss how executive functions make it possible to overcome automatic or biased thinking
- Describe how the executive functions in your brain allow you to imagine your way out of complex and seemingly intractable problems and situations
- Understand how the executive functions in your brain are related to freedom of thought and action and how that freedom makes it possible to adapt to situations and change as needed
Session 2: Stereotypes and Implicit Bias
- Describe explicit and implicit stereotypes and how they relate to biased behavior
- Explain strategies for dealing with situations where you feel you’ve been the target of implicit bias
- Explain strategies for dealing with implicit stereotypes
Session 3: The Value of Inclusion
- Identify what inclusion means, distinguishing between inclusion and diversity
- Summarize the moral case for inclusion that involves empathy and others-centered thinking
- Summarize the logical case for inclusion by considering the costs and benefits associated with inclusive and exclusive thinking
- Discuss the insights of historical leaders on the power of inclusivity