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By Jo Gamm Witt Copyright 2025
In Season 1, Episode 2 a female pilot, who had been the sole survivor of a plane crash, was on trial for criminal negligence. In coordination with her reluctant attorney, she consults with Dr. Jason Bull, a psychologist and trial science expert who runs a jury consulting firm. Dr. Bull, along with his team, studies potential jurors and assists in their selection and afterwards studies groups of mimicked jurors for mock trials to determine what argument may best win over the jurors.
Dr. Bull has the case presented to a few different groups of mimicked jurors, and each time their mock trial verdict was "guilty." But then he decided to make one change in the case that was presented to the mimicked jurors--he changed the gender of the pilot to male instead of female. The same case was presented to them as before, but this time they voted to acquit. It was then that he realized that gender bias was an issue, stating that women drivers have historically been viewed as worse drivers, even though facts do not support that notion. In view of his new revelation, he pondered how to overcome the gender bias issue.
The pilot, due to her injuries from the crash, had no memory of what happened during the crash. But then Dr. Bull had an idea--he took her to a flight simulator and had her pilot the same conditions in the simulator as what had happened during the crash. During the simulated pre-crash scenario, she remembered that she had disobeyed commands from the tower because she wanted to navigate the plane away from a residential area so as to minimize casualties. Her split second decision to maneuver the aircraft away from the residential area was influenced by her military flight training to reduce the number of civilian casualties. After that revelation, her actions were instead viewed as heroic, influencing the jurors away from their bias regarding female drivers, and the jury acquitted.
I found interesting from the episode how clear the gender bias was, that when the same information was presented to different groups of people, that the only variable that would matter would be gender. Although it can be easy to realize how obviously unfair this clear gender bias was, unfortunately it often is a reality in our society, and not just in regards to driving or flying and not even only in regards to males and females. We make preconceived assumptions about people that may not be fair and may not be true, and in doing so, we fail to see a person's true talents and abilities.
On Friday when my grandkids were here, my oldest grandchild said to me, "I would really like to see a woman President." And I responded, "I would like to see that too--they have been in other countries, but not here. And seemingly it has nothing to do with abilities or qualifications."
I'm currently reading a book titled Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. It is about discovering your own strengths (talents/abilities) and how they can best be used. One thing it discusses is when people are promoted into positions for which they don't have the right strengths, while also elaborating on leaders who've been successful because of using their strengths in positions best suited for their strengths while also choosing a well-balanced team of people who also are each using their own strengths in ways they are best suited for. However, the reality is that not everyone is afforded the same opportunities in our society. The most qualified people are not always chosen for positions for which they would be best suited. Talents and abilities are often overlooked because of the blindness of bias.
The purest relationship is one where two people view each other only as persons--not as male or female, not as black or white or brown, not as Christian or Jew or Muslim or Hindu or atheist or whatever, not as gay or straight, etc. The purest relationship is when we see the best in people--when we look to see what their individual strengths, talents, and abilities are and recognize the possibilities of how they could best contribute to society. When people are in positions congruent with their skills and abilities, not only are work environments more efficient and more productive, but there is also greater job satisfaction and fulfillment, cyclically leading to even greater productivity, and ultimately to more effectively functioning society overall. Yet, sadly the best candidates for positions may be overlooked due to unfair preconceived assumptions of bias.
I recall back to years ago when a close friend of mine had sought treatment for his alcoholism and was in AA and shared with me about the things he was learning. I recall that they are taught the first step to changing is to admit that you have a problem. We as a society need to be honest and admit that each and every one of us has a problem--we make preconceived assumptions about people which are often unfair and untrue. And after that first step of being honest about the problem, then we need to ponder how best to change our hearts. When we come to recognize our own preconceived assumptions about people and make strides to overcome them, we can come to see people in a purer way and to treat them in more fair ways.
Although societal change may seem like an unrealistic, overwhelming task, I often recall the Starfish Story--the story of a little boy on a beach putting beached starfish back into the water, who was asked why he was doing it because it would not make much difference, to which he replied, "I made a different to that one." Let's all be like that little boy--a difference no matter how small is worthwhile.
Together we can embark on this worthwhile task of overcoming bias, of coming to recognize the gifts and talents of others, and giving everyone a fair opportunity to use their own particular most suited skills toward the betterment of all.
Change yourself, influence others, change the world.
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