Children learn biases at a very early age. These put them at a disadvantage in their interactions with others and can manifest in discrimination, harassment, homophobia and racism.
Occtopus counteracts this development and educates children in dealing with diversity and inequalities before prejudices become fixed in their thought patterns.
Occtopus offers games instead of stiff structures and encourages parents to question their own behavior. This is how a culture of respect can arise.
Let’s counter biases based on race, gender, or sexual orientation! Let´s reduce stereotypes!
Sustainable
Scalable
Accessible
We are not born with racial preferences or stereotypes, but we are definitely born with the capacity to learn them. We absorb them long before we understand what we are doing.
This is partly why it’s so difficult for people to unlearn stereotypes. We have been absorbing stereotypes since our early childhood. Some of them are so ingrained, we don’t even realize they exist:
Children learn which social categories are important by observing their environments and often being confrontation with a cognitive Puzzle to solve
They collect Information from the world around them in order to actively construct their own beliefs
In other words, children pick up the ways in which whiteness, heterosexuality, male domination, thin body size and many more is normalized and privileged
Child observes the environment where the world is structured in social categories
Child develops stereotypes by making own conclusions
Establishes biases that lead to unfair behavior
Develops self-image of ``not being racist`` due to social norm and lack of open conversation
Biases remain undetected and unconscious
Daniel Aminati
Only 10%
of parents discuss race often with their children
35%
of all parents surveyed said they never talk to their children about social class
57%
of all parents said they rarely or never talk about gender with their kids. These conversations are less likely to happen with younger children. Less than a third of parents of 3- to 5-year-old kids discuss race and ethnicity sometimes or often
Based on scientific knowledge
Fair Play
Iterative approach
Transparency & openness
Diverse teams
Continuous improvement
At Occtopus, we host Workshops for kids and parents as well as for companies in order to reduce unconscious bias.
Focus stereotypes
Social roles
Estimated Time: 15 min
Read moreWith the Job Puzzle we want to recognize the effect of stereotypes and bias on the child's perception of social roles
Focus on typical stereotypes and prejudices that are reflected in the child´s answer as well as its certainty on their answers (e.g., only a certain gender or skin color is selected for low- or high-income professions).
BackEffect of stereotypes and bias
Couples
Estimated Time: 5-10 min
Read moreThe goal of this game is to recognize the effect of stereotypes and bias on the child's perception of social norms on romantic constellations
Focus on typical stereotypes and prejudices that are reflected in the child's answer as well as its certainty on their answers
BackThe goal of this game is to make gender-based stereotypes in the child´s worldview visible
Focus on the behavior and see if the child shows distinct behavior on purpose, e.g., does not throw as far in one situation than in the other or makes additional noises
Back