{"id":77489,"date":"2022-09-06T16:19:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T20:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=77489"},"modified":"2022-09-13T08:55:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T12:55:05","slug":"how-to-overcome-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-overcome-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Overcome Bias: James O’Brien’s Path Toward Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you look down on others? Do you have empathy for all kinds of people, or does bias sometimes get in the way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio personality James O’Brien has been known for his ability to argue his guests into submission and prove his own rightness. In his book How Not to Be Wrong<\/em>, he explains how he realized his misguided beliefs about himself and others and ultimately changed course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn how to overcome bias<\/a> as O’Brien has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Overcoming Bias<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a book that could easily be titled “How to Overcome Bias,” James O\u2019Brien argues that learning to change your mind when you\u2019re wrong<\/a> is a valuable tool for combatting prejudice. Coming from a man who was taught never to show vulnerability, his method for changing his own mind is unexpected: starting therapy and exploring his childhood trauma. O\u2019Brien claims that only by getting to the root of our pain can we learn to have empathy for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O’Brien admits that he had misguided beliefs about race and that he held prejudices against certain groups of people. He recognized that some of his beliefs about others were unfair and unfounded, but he had a hard time letting go of them\u2014in part because he\u2019d never questioned where they come from. Examining the source of prejudices and talking to callers on his radio show helped him change his mind about the stop-and-frisk<\/a> policy, white privilege, overweight people, people with tattoos, and unmarried people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Brien lets go of his biases by asking himself tough questions about why he believes what he does. He believes that you can\u2019t argue someone into changing their mind; you can only ask them questions until they get to a place where they might change their own mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In examining \u201cwrong\u201d beliefs and biases, whether they\u2019re his own or someone else\u2019s, O\u2019Brien typically asks the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n