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Weekly assignment regarding Bias – this may take awhile so please open right away! WRITE YOU OWN WORDS – NOT AI GENERATED! 
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Due Wednesday by 11:59am
Points 75
Submitting a text entry box or a file upload
Available until Jun 26 at 11:59am
New law SB1495 requires students who take the state licensing exam have bias and fair housing training. I assume there will be some new questions on the state exam regarding these issues. This paper is self-explanatory. Please read the directions and include your paper here. Please DO NOT COPY other students’ work! I am looking for your honest reaction to the assignment and NOT something cut and pasted from the Internet or identical to another student’s work. 
Good Luck!
Professor Taber
Please read and review the following explanations for Implicit, Explicit and Systemic Biases. You will then follow the prompts below and write your paper (3-4 paragraphs) Written by your own hand in your own words! If I see overlaps with other students I will give you a zero. If I say sentences cut and pasted from the Internet I will give you a zero. This assignment has been mandated by law so you understand the role of bias in real estate!
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  or the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection.
The implicit associations we harbor in our subconscious cause us to have feelings and attitudes about other people based on characteristics such as race,  ethnicity, age, and appearance. These associations develop over the course of a lifetime beginning at a very early age through exposure to direct and  indirect messages. In addition to early life experiences, the media and news programming are often-cited origins of implicit associations.
Affinity bias
Affinity bias is the unconscious tendency to show preference for those who are like us. This bias often shows up in hiring process as we search for candidates that “fit” the culture of the department.
Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias occurs when we make a judgement or assumption about another person (these judgements and assumptions can be fueled by stereotypes), and we unconsciously look for evidence to back up our assumption of that person. We do this because we want to believe we’re right and that we’ve made the right assessment of a person.
Stereotypes
Stereotypes are an exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth about a person or group—a generalization that allows for little or no individual differences or social variation. Stereotypes are based on images in mass media, or stories and perceptions about other groups passed on by parents, peers and other members of society. Stereotypes can be positive or negative.
Microaggression
Microaggression are everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, and insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group memberships. 
Explicit or Conscious Bias
“Explicit bias” refers to the attitudes and beliefs we have about a person or group on a conscious level. Much of the time, these biases and their expression arise as the direct result of a perceived threat. When people feel threatened, they are more likely to draw group boundaries to distinguish themselves from others.
Systemic or institutional bias
Systemic or Institutional bias is prejudice, discrimination or unfairness directed by health, educational, government, judicial, legal, religious, political, financial, media, or cultural institutions through policies and practices that create different outcomes for historically underrepresented and marginalized groups. While institutional  policies may never mention exclusion of marginalized group, their effect is to create advantages for those from advantaged groups and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as marginalized.
Assignment Directions:
As you read the various explanations about bias, consider how they play out in your own life. Identify at least three specific factors that have likely shaped your own implicit or unconscious biases.
What examples of bias did you know about before reading the explanations? What examples were new to you?
How do you believe this will influence your work in real estate?  
Test your bias! Take one of the Project Implicit Association Tests (IAT) and contribute to important research.
Project Implicit Association TestsLinks to an external site.
Were you able to see any connections between your IAT results and the types of biases presented in the reading?
Were you able to see any connections between your IAT results and stereotypes that you may have been exposed to while growing up? 
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