The idea is to think about why you think the way you think.

Why do I think this about that? Or that about this?

The Smithsonian “The Bias Inside Us” exhibit, which is coming to Huntsville for a four-week run next month, is intended to do just that.

Related: Smithsonian’s ‘Bias Inside Us’ exhibit set for first Alabama visit

“We usually don’t think about why we think the way we think,” said Neil Lamb, president of HudsonAlpha Institute of Biotechnology. “And this exhibit is all about opening up our understanding of what is taking place inside our brain.”

HudsonAlpha is the site of the exhibit when it comes to Alabama for the first time on April 24 and runs through May 20.

“Every moment that our eyes are open, we are taking in, by some estimates, 11 million bits of information,” Lamb said. “And our brains have to process through that and make sense of that meaning. And they do that by taking great shortcuts and looking at context to make decisions. And that helps us not be paralyzed as we try to process everything.

“But the challenge around that is that sometimes the conclusions that we make are not based in true fact. They’re based in assumptions, and we miss the mark. And the exhibit talks about the science behind how our brains process information and the challenges of the implicit bias when we make assumptions that we’re not even consciously aware of.”

Again, why do I think the way I think?

The exhibit has six sections that will include portraits, visuals, videos and interactive displays. One interactive feature — “Should I speak up?” — asks visitors to think about how they would react as microaggressions permeate conversations between friends at a café. Another display poses 20 “self-audit questions” to visitors. The closing section delves into of the “color of skin that challenges the concept of race” and includes a video from the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” campaign that promotes the inclusion of all people across race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability.

News of the exhibit, first announced on Monday, came two days after the Alabama Republican Party approved a resolution to “abolish diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracies and policies in public institutions and restore equality in public universities.”

Asked about the GOP resolution as a backdrop to the exhibit coming to Huntsville, Mayor Tommy Battle said giving perceptions and ideas a second look is not a bad thing.

“This is about science,” said Battle, whose position as mayor is nonpartisan but who ran for governor in 2018 as a Republican. “This is about how your brain works. This is about how your brain just automatically goes to certain conclusions and maybe you need to look at it a second time. I would hope that people look at (the exhibit) as a way to rethink a lot of things that they do and their issues and everything else. And rethinking, a lot of times you’re going to come up and say, ‘I’m in the right place.’ Sometimes you’re going to come up and say, ‘Maybe I better think this over again.’

“And I do it constantly, I think it’s a very important thing to do. It’s going to be something good for our community to look at.”

Lamb agreed.

“I think that one of the goals of this exhibit is to actually bring the community together to have dialogue around these topics,” he said. “That is one of the stated goals of the Smithsonian. And there are a lot of different perspectives and opinions. And I think it’s valuable to engage in that conversation. We’re really excited to be part of the bioscience exhibit with the city because the Smithsonian has this rich history of engaging people in dialogue, exploring what can be and having some of those sometimes-challenging conversations.”

There is no admission charge for the exhibit at HudsonAlpha, located at 601 Genome Way in Cummings Research Park. The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. On Tuesdays, the exhibit will remain open until 7 p.m.