Joy as Resistance and Bias Reduction
Diverse Joy’s October 2025 episode: “Joy as Resistance and Bias Reduction”
Diverse Joy Podcast - Season 3, Episode 1
For this Halloween episode, Will is dressed as Dracula and Amber is the Bride of Frankenstein! This is the first episode of season 3, and Amber’s joy is all the great reactions the podcast has received, including Diverse Joy being officially ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally! Will’s joy is that his book, Overcoming Bias Habits, is now available for preorder! (Details below.)
Dr. William T. L. Cox and Dr. Amber Nelson during the recording of "Joy as Resistance and Bias Reduction", the third season premiere of Diverse Joy podcast
This episode’s discussion topic is how joy can be used as a scientifically validated tool against bias. Some of this concept is reflected in historical and contemporary notions of “joy as resistance,” using joy in many forms—community, song, fellowship—to fight injustice and oppression. They also discuss the distinction between genuine joy and performative or toxic positivity. Many scientists say that the primary driving force behind bias is having more pleasant (i.e., joyful) memories with similar folks and fewer with those who are different from you. In that way, cultivating diverse joy, in terms of building more, and more joyful, memories with diverse people, directly helps combat and push back against bias in your mind and behavior. The discussion brings into focus two primary goals that Will and Amber want everyone to keep in mind: doing the work to 1) cultivate diverse joy, and 2) disrupt bias habits. Working on each goal can help you with the other, and together they will help us all build a better world, bit by bit.
Our answers to this episode’s question explains that we don’t talk about current events because every episode is meant to be an evergreen educational resource, and discussing current events would date the episodes in an unhelpful way.
A promotional photo for this episode, with Amber and Will in Halloween outfits (dwarfed by a 12' skeleton!)
During story time, the more negative story this episode involves how one of Amber’s colleagues had traumatic negative experiences with Black folks, which fueled them to have stronger unintentional race bias towards her. This episode’s positive story comes from a listener who shared that they actively use the notion of bias being a habit whenever they notice a biased thought.
Our bias habit-breaking skill continues that theme, encouraging us all to Approach Biases as Habits to be Broken. We further emphasize that all the habit-breaking skills are actionable (they involve you doing something), self-sustainable (you can maintain them over time), customizable (you can adapt them to different contexts), and generalizable (you use them to work on biases related to race, gender, LGBTQ+ statuses, age, disability, or any other group status you can think of).
Will’s joyful recommendation is the movie Sinners (2025). It includes themes of “joy as resistance” with the Black community combating racism through a horror allegory. It is a fun, not-too-scary vampire romp to help you cultivate diverse joy and disrupt bias habits!
Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder the day this episode releases! Preorder on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or UC Press. The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.
The episode can be found below, by following the podcast wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, RSSFeed, Amazon/Audible, or by subscribing to @BiasHabit on YouTube.
Image Gallery for “Joy as Resistance and Bias Reduction”
