Social Psychologist Professor at Stanford Jennifer Eberhardt recently released her new book, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do. Eberhardt studies racial disparities within the criminal justice system. She received her PhD from Harvard University, taught at Yale, was recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award and is now co-director of SPARQ, a “do tank” that tackles social disparities and drives social change based on behavior science insights. She will be discussing her book at 7:30 pm on Wednesday April 10 at Campbell Hall. Eberhardt spoke with the Independent in anticipation of her talk to discuss her work, her new book, and how bias can take shape in the classroom.
Independent: How did you get into your line of work?
Eberhardt: As a kid I moved from an all-black neighborhood to an all-white neighborhood. I realized what a huge difference it was in comparison to my old neighborhood in terms of the resources that were there, the teachers, the expectations. At that school, people expected that you would go to college and do great things. That really wasn't the expectation for most of us in the Cleveland public school. Noticing how there were so many disparities that seemed to be aligned with race, that led me to ask questions that I never really stopped asking.