Professor Joshua VanArsdall explores personal biases for #ElmhurstUVotes series

On Oct. 13, psychology professor Joshua VanArsdall educated the Elmhurst University community on the role cognitive biases play in politics by distorting our thinking in the #ElmhurstUVotes lecture, “(Un)conscious Bias, Politics, and You.” 

VanArsdall opened the discussion with a game of Kahoot in order to “gauge the knowledge and experience,” of the audience. One of the questions in the Kahoot revealed that more than half of the students in attendance did not see themselves as biased people, or as someone who makes biased decisions/held biased beliefs. 

According to VanArsdall, this is a very dangerous idea, since most people do not react to the world in an objective way. Instead, people are reacting through their own personal views and perspectives, which stem from past experiences. 

VanArsdall gave examples of these life experiences such as, “the society we have been born into, our local culture, family, and individual experiences,” which are then turned into schemas made by the brain. 

One of the brain’s reasons for creating these schemas, or thought patterns, is largely based on our brain’s need to conserve mental energy. VanArsdall notes that “this is our brain's way of being lazy.”

Another psychological concept VanArsdall highlighted during his speech is the idea of self-fulfilling prophecy. People will constantly behave in ways in order to confirm what they believe is true, according to VanArsdall.

Here is where most biases can be formed, then reaffirmed, and deemed nearly permanent. People will even go as far as jumping to their own conclusions, in order to reaffirm the way they think. 

Most biases are, unfortunately, unconscious. But what VanArsdall hoped to make apparent to the audience is how important it is to check our own personal biases. He urged listeners to question their own thoughts and beliefs, as many of us hold unconscious biases unbeknownst to us. 

The six-part #ElmhurstUVotes series, sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, will end with an Election Day discussion on Nov. 3 during protected hour over Zoom.