To begin with it is important to understand that a schema is a psychological model

To begin with it is important to understand that a schema is a psychological model that teaches that a person what to expect from a diversity of experiences and situations. These schemas come about through life lived out. In other words they come about through data collected from life experiences and then they are deposited in memory. This can then be used as a short cut to help navigate future situations that are the same or similar to ones we just experienced. A bias is the tendency to believe in something that is not based upon the foundational content of the subject being perceived.

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Both social roles and schemas affect the formation of biases for they both bring structure to our thinking about others and events. Both flow out of our experiences. If one’s experience is one-sided they can easily form a bias against the other side, or for the side they know. Being raised and living in the South most of my life (43 or 49 years) I have seen how both social roles and schemas lead people to racism. The social structure of their families, the culture around them is so segregated from the full picture of knowledge they form biases against others based upon the color of their skin. The life they have lived (schemas) drives them to see others as outsiders and thus the bias is formed. Once the social roles and schemas are set then that person uses this shortcut to evaluate all others according to what they know.

It is often stressed (in theory and research) that the automatic thinking process has a greater effect upon biases (van Nunspect, Ellemers&Derks, 2015). Clearly when we are on autopilot we will also go back to the things we have been taught, experienced and believed. It is these deep-rooted experiences that form our automatic thinking and leads to an outlook of bias more often than not.

However, we must not think that controlled thinking is really any different for our controlled thinking is also based upon past teaching, experience and beliefs. When it comes to having great biases these experiences often shape our controlling thinking.

So how can this be stopped? First it all begins with our presuppositions. If we refuse to look at our past presuppositions then auto or controlled thinking will be biased. However, if we take truth seriously and seek to shape our thinking on it then we began to see that both automatic and controlled processes can fight the dangers of biases.

vanNunspeet, F., Ellemers, N., &Derks, B. (2015). Reducing implicit bias: How moral motivation helps people refrain from making ‘automatic’ prejudiced associations. Translational Issues In Psychological Science, 1(4), 382-391.doi:10.1037/tps0000044