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The transcript discusses the psychological concepts of selected attention and automatic activation in relation to stereotypes. It explains how stereotypes can influence our perception and behavior, using examples such as judging someone as less experienced based on their appearance. The transcript also mentions a study called the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which measures implicit biases and how people often respond faster when pairing concepts that align with societal stereotypes. The study has implications for professions like educators and lawyers, as it can help them become aware of and address implicit biases. The transcript concludes by discussing how psychology can be used to solve real-world problems, such as organizing workshops and discussions to address implicit biases in the workplace. Overall, it emphasizes the importance of being mindful and fair in our interactions, and reminds us that there is more to people than meets the eye. Imagine you're walking to class and you see someone wearing thick glasses, khaki pants, and a button-up shirt, and carrying a number of books in their hand, maybe about molecular genetics or theoretical physics. You probably will instantly think that he's a nerd, for those of us that may have experienced this in some way or another, making a quick judgment based on appearances. This is a perfect example of how our minds think in the world of psychology, focusing on stereotypes, how they can lead to selected attention, and the automatic activation of these stereotypes. Hello everyone, my name is Ariash and I'm going to spend these next 5 to 10 minutes talking to you guys about some psychological topics. I have some great real-world examples, studies, and applications for you throughout this short podcast, but before I begin, I probably should introduce the two concepts I want to focus on the most today. These, of course, as mentioned earlier, are selected attention and automatic activation. Selected attention is a process of how stereotypes can direct our attention to look at or consider certain information. It's kind of like having a spotlight in your mind, which follows around the most relevant information at any given moment and allows you to function without being overwhelmed with other forms of stimuli that's happening around you. Activation is when a dormant stereotype becomes active, ready for use, and capable of influencing a person's thoughts and behaviors. Automatic activation is the unconscious and immediate activation of the beliefs we have. Essentially, a learned category stereotype links so thoroughly that the stereotype becomes a conditioned, unthinking, mental response to the category. Now that you have a better understanding of these terms, let's think about them in terms of a real-world example. Imagine you have a job interview in a few hours. Well, it's time to go and you walk in, and the interviewer is a very young man. I mean, you may think he just got out of college, or still is in college, for all that matters. Due to some societal stereotypes, you may unconsciously assume that he is less experienced or less authoritative compared to an older male or female interviewer. This automatic activation of the stereotype can also mess with your selective attention. You may see yourself noticing and remembering only the cues that fit with this preconceived belief. For example, you would highlight a moment of hesitation or poor eye contact and ignore his great qualifications and well-worded questions. Next up, we're going to talk about a unique study that I found, and I'm going to introduce the topics, authors, and main results. But before that, let's take a quick break. Alright, glad to be back. Now, I found a pretty interesting study that I think you listeners will be very interested to learn about. It is titled, Measuring Individual Differences in Implicit Cognition, the Implicit Association Test. It was authored by Anthony G. Greenwald, Debbie E. McGee, and Jordan L. K. Schwartz. The study introduces the IAT, which measures the strength of associations between concepts which can be different ethnicities of people and evaluations, basically good or bad, or stereotypes, such as an individual being athletic or maybe uncoordinated. The key finding of the study shows that people often have faster response times when the pairing of concepts go with societal stereotypes. For example, the data showed that many people respond faster when pairing positive words with white faces and negative words with black faces than the opposite. The difference in reaction time is shown as an indicator of implicit bias. That data is pretty scary to think about when you realize there are so many jobs out there where this IAT test can be applied. So, we'll look at some real applications that you may be able to think about. You now may be wondering why the study is important and how it truly impacts your life. Well, I'll explain so. The study has many applications for everyday interactions, especially in professions like educators and even lawyers. But in this case, let's focus on the role of a teacher. As an educator, being able to understand your implicit biases can help you become more aware of any unintentional differential treatment of your students. This can be said the same for therapists and in the workplace. Being able to recognize these biases can help with better hiring practices and interactions with everyone you meet on a daily basis, especially since building rapport is arguably one of the most important parts of the therapy session. You want your client to know you and be able to trust you so that you can talk as much as you want to. Now, we have been talking for a little while and it seems like we are close to the end of the podcast. Before we get to my closing remarks, I want to talk about one last story about how psychology can be used to solve basically any real-world problem. Let's take a quick break before we go into that. All right, if I remember correctly, we are at the part where we talk about the real-world problem and how psychology can be used to solve it. For simplicity, let's revisit our educator situation we discussed in the beginning to talk about and include the IAT. Let's say you are an educator and you want to start to notice some issues with implicit bias among your coworkers, so you administer an IAT test to help identify where these implicit biases are. Based on this knowledge, you try to organize workshops and bring in educators to address these biases, which include role-playing exercises and group discussions. Over time, the whole staff is able to develop more understanding and empathy all due to the psychological insights that the IAT was able to display, creating a more inclusive workplace and community as a whole. Throughout this short episode, we have discussed many different psychological concepts and their relation to stereotypes. Being able to understand important concepts like selective attention and automatic activation of these stereotypes, we can take steps to be more mindful and fair in our interactions in both professional and personal aspects of our life. This should be an important note when meeting someone new. Always remember that there is more than meets the eye. With that being said, I want to thank everyone for listening and being here with me today. I had a great time sharing some of my insights on my psychological concepts and I hope you guys did too hearing about them. Thank you everyone for being here and I hope you have a great day.