What Zootopia Gets Right About Trauma

This week on TraumaTies, Bridgette Stumpf and Lindsey Silverberg discuss categorization, bias, and how we respond to people and conversations that challenge our perspective. How do our implicit biases shape our relationships? Where does implicit bias or categorization influence government, policy, and history? And how does this all tie back to Zootopia? Bridgette and Lindsey explore these questions and more.

Key Takeaways

• We can feel deep discomfort in sharing our perspective if the environment feels hostile.
• Bias and categorization can create an “us versus them” mentality.
• These biases ripple from the interpersonal level to system-wide policies and laws.
• It is important to commit to learning and unlearning from others despite discomfort.
• Movies like Zootopia provide audiences with poignant lessons on consent, unlearning bias, and creating healthy relationships.

Resources Mentioned

• Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji, “Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes”, Psychological Review 1995 Jan;102(1):4-27.

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