Founders' Day

Glossary / Key Terms

• Implicit or Unconscious Bias

  Also known as implicit social cognition, implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection.

  (Kirwan Institute, 2015)

• Schemas

  Schemas are “templates of knowledge that help us to organize specific examples into broader categories” (Kang, 2008). These mental shortcuts allow us to quickly assign objects, processes, and people into categories (Kang, 2009). For example, people may be placed into categories based on traits such as age, race, gender, and the like. Once these categories have been assigned, any meanings that we carry associated with that category then become associated with the object, process, or person in question. The chronic accessibility of racial schemas allow them to shape social interactions (Kang, 2005).

• Stereotypes

  Stereotypes are beliefs that are mentally associated with a given category (Blair, 2002; Greenwald and Krieger, 2006). For example, Asians are often stereotyped as being good at math, and the elderly are often stereotyped as being frail. These associations – both positive and negative – are routinized enough that they generally are automatically accessed (Rudman, 2004). Stereotypes are not necessarily accurate and may even reflect associations that we would consciously reject (Reskin, 2005).

• Attitudes

  Attitudes are evaluative feelings, such as having a positive or negative feeling towards something or someone.

  (Greenwald and Krieger, 2006; Kang, 2009)

• Ingroups and Outgroups

  As soon as we see someone, we automatically categorize him or her as either ‘one of us’, that is, a member of our ingroup, or different from ourselves, meaning a member of our outgroup. Making this simple ‘us vs. them’ distinction is an automatic process that happens within seconds of meeting someone (Reskin, 2005). Deservedly or not, ingroup bias leads to relative favoritism compared to outgroup members (Greenwald and Krieger, 2006). We extrapolate characteristics about ourselves to other ingroup members, assuming that they are like us compared to outgroup members (Reskin, 2005). By favoring ingroup members, we tend to grant them a measure of our trust and regard them in a positive light (Reskin, 2005). This ingroup favoritism surfaces often on measures of implicit bias (see, e.g., Greenwald, et al., 1998). The strength of ingroup bias has been illustrated in various studies. For example, research has found that people tend to display ingroup bias even when group members are randomly assigned (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, and Flament, 1971), and, even more incredibly, when groups are completely fictitious (Ashburn-Nardo, Voils, and Monteith, 2001).

  (Source: Kirwan Institute)

• Race

  The social construction of difference based on skin color and other factors (hair, eyes, facial features). In the United States, we use the following racial categories: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; White.

• Ethnicity

  A shared heritage, culture or way of life.

• Nationality

  The country or countries where a person’s membership in that nation is officially recognized through birth or a naturalization process.

• Gender Identity

  How a person understands their own gender; a person’s internal sense of being male, female, neither, or somewhere on the spectrum of gender identity.

• Cisgender

  A description for a person whose gender identity aligns with the gender, which they were assigned at birth.

• Transgender or Gender Non-Conforming

  An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender identity is distinct from sexual orientation. A transgender individual may identify as heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, etc.

• Ability Status

  Physical, mental, and/or emotional ability. Examples of ability statuses are temporarily able-bodied, disabled, neurotypical, neurodivergent, and many more.

• Disability

  A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Additionally, typically to receive accommodations, the person must have a record of the impairment, and be regarded as having that impairment.

• Neurodivergent

  Having a brain that functions in ways that diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.” Neurodivergence can be largely or entirely genetic and innate, or it can be largely or entirely produced by a brain-altering experience, or some combination of the two. Autism and dyslexia are examples of innate forms of neurodivergence, while alterations in brain functioning caused by such things as trauma, long-term meditation practice, or heavy usage of psychedelic drugs are examples of forms of neurodivergence produced through experience.

• Neurotypical

  Having a style of neurocognitive functioning that falls within the dominant societal standards of “normal.” Neurotypical is the opposite of neurodivergent.