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S3E04: Learning About Bias in Kids
It’s our New Year’s episode (happy 2026 everybody)! For this mid-winter episode, Will shares the joy of going to the Lake Geneva Winterfest America’s Snow Sculpting Invitational™ and the delightful sights of artfully crafted snow sculptures there, and Amber’s joy is discovering new-to-her music and musicians like Doechii, Panic Shack, and Olivia Dean!
The discussion topic is Learning About Bias in Kids, including how kids learn bias from their environments and peers, and how they often display bias, even when their parents don’t think they will, due to not having learned to filter their thoughts yet. Kids learn especially strongly from modeling the behavior of their peers. They also pick up on subtle cues from their parents’ and other adults’ behaviors, even subtle, unintentional biases. Amber gives some great advice about how to react when kids point out differences they see in other people (spoiler: avoiding it because it is uncomfortable is not the answer!).
In story time, we share a listener story about a kid who thought romantic couples had to be same-race (since those types of couples are much more prominent than mixed-race couples), and a story about a time a kid was thoughtful about gender identity and pronouns–and even corrected an authority figure.
This episode’s question was “Can dogs be racist?” (Which is more accurately, “Can dogs be racially biased?” since “racist” and “racism” are about systems of oppression, which dogs are not active participants of.) We discuss some of the ways dogs can learn racial biases from their owners–which actually ties back to the ways that kids learn the same things from their parents.
This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill involves understanding and undermining Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, which happens when our expectations about someone else lead us to behave in ways that bring out the behavior we expected. Will discusses this concept using examples from a group of probation officers he worked with, who had a policy that might create self-fulfilling prophecies with recidivism rates.
The joyful recommendation this time comes from Will, who recommends the diverse, intriguing, hilarious, genre-bending television show, The Afterparty (2022-2023), starring the amazing Tiffany Haddish (an Apple TV+ exclusive that ran for two seasons).
Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.
Check your small local bookstores!
From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM
From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428
We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store
Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
View all episodes
By Diverse JoyIt’s our New Year’s episode (happy 2026 everybody)! For this mid-winter episode, Will shares the joy of going to the Lake Geneva Winterfest America’s Snow Sculpting Invitational™ and the delightful sights of artfully crafted snow sculptures there, and Amber’s joy is discovering new-to-her music and musicians like Doechii, Panic Shack, and Olivia Dean!
The discussion topic is Learning About Bias in Kids, including how kids learn bias from their environments and peers, and how they often display bias, even when their parents don’t think they will, due to not having learned to filter their thoughts yet. Kids learn especially strongly from modeling the behavior of their peers. They also pick up on subtle cues from their parents’ and other adults’ behaviors, even subtle, unintentional biases. Amber gives some great advice about how to react when kids point out differences they see in other people (spoiler: avoiding it because it is uncomfortable is not the answer!).
In story time, we share a listener story about a kid who thought romantic couples had to be same-race (since those types of couples are much more prominent than mixed-race couples), and a story about a time a kid was thoughtful about gender identity and pronouns–and even corrected an authority figure.
This episode’s question was “Can dogs be racist?” (Which is more accurately, “Can dogs be racially biased?” since “racist” and “racism” are about systems of oppression, which dogs are not active participants of.) We discuss some of the ways dogs can learn racial biases from their owners–which actually ties back to the ways that kids learn the same things from their parents.
This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill involves understanding and undermining Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, which happens when our expectations about someone else lead us to behave in ways that bring out the behavior we expected. Will discusses this concept using examples from a group of probation officers he worked with, who had a policy that might create self-fulfilling prophecies with recidivism rates.
The joyful recommendation this time comes from Will, who recommends the diverse, intriguing, hilarious, genre-bending television show, The Afterparty (2022-2023), starring the amazing Tiffany Haddish (an Apple TV+ exclusive that ran for two seasons).
Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.
Check your small local bookstores!
From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM
From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428
We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store
Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.