Course Description
Overview
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.
Agenda
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