Call Into the Wild

The issue of bias is often seen throughout the mass communication world. Bias is prejudice in favor of or against a person, group, or a thing. It is usually considered to be unfair, but that depends on its contents. Most of our biases are unconscious, which is also known as implicit bias. This helps to explain why discrimination exists which is something we also see in the mass communication world. For example overweight job applicants are often viewed as less intelligent, and lazier. In a study job applicants who sat down next to an overweight person were ranked lower. This study also showed that the slimmer of the job applicants was hired. Biases create such problems in life because a lot of the time people lie about their views from fear of being perceived as prejudiced. A specific type of bias called, gender bias, shows a conscious or unconscious preference towards one gender over the other. A study at a university divided volunteers up into two groups and talked about two individuals, a girl and a boy. They were both described as hard-working people yet both of the groups decided that the boy would be a better boss and more likeable person. These issues are relevant in today’s society as well as throughout our media. Other issues are also seen throughout the media. Racism is a problem that has become significantly better throughout time but is still something we struggle with today. It is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities to that race. Racism is seen throughout your unconscious bias. Researchers have tested people for unconscious biases with a test known as the Implicit Association Test. At first the test is easy, is just asks you to identify different races, genders, etc. But then it goes on to do the same with positive and negative words showing overtop of black and white faces. You have to identify which words are positive and negative, and the study shows that 80% of whites respond with more