What Do You Assume About Me? (Quiz)
published May 1, 2023
image by Christina Morillo at Pexels.com
by Catharine Hannay, founder of MindfulTeachers.org
Instructions: Match each person with their description. Write the letter on the line next to the person’s name. (Names and descriptions are listed in alphabetical order.)
____ 1. Brad a) can’t eat shellfish
____ 2. Karen b) enjoys playing pickleball
____ 3. Kwame c) has a 90-minute commute
____ 4. Latifah d) has been arrested twice
____ 5. Lee e) has fourteen grandchildren
____ 6. Louis f) is an art history professor
____ 7. Maria g) is a single parent
____ 8. Mi-Seon h) is Deaf
____ 9. Nguyen i) teaches high school math
____ 10. Raven j) uses a wheelchair
____ 11. Ximena k) works as a lawyer
____ 12. Yusuf l) works as a nurse
Answers… or More Questions?
Congratulations if you didn’t fill in any of the answers! As you probably figured out pretty quickly, this ‘quiz’ is actually intended for self-reflection on implicit bias.
We simply don’t know enough about any of these people based on just their first names… But it’s likely certain assumptions popped into your head as you were going through the list.
For example:
Did you make any assumptions about Lee’s gender and ethnicity?
How did you picture the lawyer, nurse, and single parent?
What did you assume to be Maria’s native language: English, Spanish, Polish, Greek, Italian, Hungarian, or Icelandic?
How did you picture the Deaf individual?
What image immediately came to your mind when you saw that someone was arrested?
Did you make any assumptions about Yusuf’s religious beliefs? (FYI, that name is used by Christians, Muslims, and Jews.)
Think about anything you assumed about these individuals, and why that probably happened. Were you raised with positive or negative images of specific groups? How have you been influenced by what you see on the news and in popular movies and TV shows? Would you like to reconsider some of your assumptions about different groups of people?
Teachers, please note: If you decide to share this quiz with your students, think carefully about how to approach it with your class and what adaptations might be appropriate for your particular context. The purpose is to reflect on one’s own implicit bias, not to put anyone on the spot in front of the group.
About the Author
Catharine Hannay, M.A., is the founder of MindfulTeachers.org and the author of Being You: A Girl’s Guide to Mindfulness, a workbook for teen girls on mindfulness, compassion, and self-acceptance. She was a teacher for twenty years, including a dozen years in the Intensive English Program at Georgetown University, and now works as a writer and editor specializing in mindfulness, effective communication, and mental health. CatharineHannay.com
Related Posts
There are more graphics and quizzes and resources on diversity here at MindfulTeachers.org, including the following posts: