About a week ago I had to present a brief on Unconscious Bias. It was a short briefing, only about 20 mins but I talked about what unconscious bias is, how we get it and some tips on how to deal with it.
It got me to wondering when I was at the part about how we get it. Research mentioned that we get the unconscious bias from an early age. From our surroundings, television, family and friends, movies and books we read. There is so much information we get that consciously there is no way for us to handle it all so our unconscious brain retains and bins it for us so we can make quick decisions.
I wonder if somehow, we don’t inherit some of our unconscious bias from our ancestors. Is it possible that some of our prejudices, likes and dislikes are passed down through our DNA? That would be a great reason why we cannot get rid of racial and religious prejudices and why there are always wars.
As long as man has existed there has been conflicts of some sort. Whether it is in country, one tribe fighting another, for land and slaves or whether it is one country fighting another country to gain control of an area.
Prejudice is the same. One tribe in the region hated people of another tribe for no reason other than they lived close by, had different thoughts and beliefs or just dressed differently. One country not liking people from another country for various reason for hundreds of years. For reasons no one even knows why any longer.
Hatred, bias, likes, dislikes – all passed down thru our ancestral DNA!
Can we eliminate this trait in our DNA? Not for a long time and not completely. I think in our technological world as we gather and communicate around the world at speeds that were not thought of 20 years ago, we may be able to alter the DNA thought process significantly. As we mix with a large variety of races, religions, beliefs and thoughts, most of us will learn to better understand each other and hence, be able to get along with each other. However, if our DNA contains knowledge and information from centuries of ancestors – trying to change that will not be an overnight endeavor or perhaps, not even a lifetime endeavor. Hopefully, we change enough in our lifetime that our portion of the DNA gets passed along to better the lives of our family to come.
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