Reframing bias as universal brain function defuses defensiveness in anti-racism training.

Evidence

Establishing that every human is vulnerable to implicit biases—which are a function of how our brain works— allows participants to internalize that holding implicit biases does not mean that the participants are traditional “racists,” and thus a genuine conversation about behavior can occur rather than a stalemate with those who feel unfairly maligned. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1359

Categorization

• DEFINE: Spells out the explicit versus implicit bias distinction and why the universal-brain-function framing is rhetorically load-bearing.
• SEED: Angle: why labeling bias pedagogy as ‘everyone has it’ lowers defensive walls — the psychological mechanics of destigmatizing an accusation.
• XREF: connects to: Cognitive biases are an inherited feature of all human brains, not curable — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 115