PPIG: Philosophy, Psychology, and Informatics Group
28 Sep 2016: Mindreading, Implicit Bias and Mental Illness
28 Sep 2016 17:00 – 18:30
Room 1.17, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD
Presenter: Kathy Puddifoot (University of Birmingham)
Title: "Mindreading, Implicit Bias and Mental Illness"
Abstract: If one person views another as a person with a mental illness, then the former is susceptible to engaging in automatic and unintentional stereotyping of the latter, being influenced by implicit biases relating to mental illness. Stereotyping about mental illness can lead to significant errors in judgement. This means that people who want to avoid making errors in judgements that they make about people with mental illnesses might attempt to avoid viewing them through the lens of their mental health condition. However, this paper highlights problems with this seemingly simple solution. It shows that in fact we face a dilemma. Both viewing people through the lens of their mental illness and preventing the presence of the mental illness from influencing one’s judgements can bring epistemic costs. While viewing people through the lens of their mental illness can lead to errors in judgement resulting from stereotyping, successful mindreading of people with mental illness is often incompatible with ignoring the presence of mental illness meaning that errors in mindreading are likely to occur when people avoid seeing others through the lens of their mental illness.
Further information
We are a group of researchers from diverse backgrounds in the above-mentioned groups (and beyond) who aim to gain an interdisciplinary yet deep understanding of the threads that bind the human mind and the world. Please come along!
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