Race is often one of the first visible differences the human brain notices when people encounter one another. While many individuals have personal relationships across gender differences, not everyone has had meaningful relationships across racial or cultural differences. As a result, perceptions and assumptions about race are often shaped indirectly through media, institutions, history, and social conditioning rather than lived experience. I think over time, people internalise messages about both their own group and others.

Research using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has shown that many individuals, regardless of racial background, can unconsciously absorb and reproduce societal stereotypes. For example, studies have found that many White participants more readily associate positive attributes with whiteness, while some Black participants may also internalise negative stereotypes about Blackness due to prolonged exposure to the same cultural narratives. This is why conversations about unconscious bias require both personal reflection and structural awareness. Bias is not simply about individual prejudice; it is also shaped by the environments, systems, and messages that influence how people see themselves and others.