Unconscious bias is a form of prejudice that we don’t notice, even though it affects our actions and decisions. Bias can be intentional or unintentional. It’s hard to recognise unconscious bias because we’re often not even aware of the stereotypes we hold about other groups. Stereotypes often lead us to favour some people over others when making decisions, which means we might miss out on opportunities for learning from others’ experiences. We may be unaware that our behaviour is influenced by biases until someone points them out to us, making it impossible to change them consciously
- Think about the last time you made an important decision or took an action based on someone’s race, gender or religion (for example, hiring someone for a job). How much influence did this have on your decision-making process? Was there anything about their appearance or background that made you less likely to choose them over other applicants? If so, how might this be affecting your life right now?
- Think back over your life and try remembering any times when someone has treated you differently because they thought you were different from them–or more privileged than them–in some way. Have there been any moments where your treatment would be considered unfair if one person were being treated in this way by another person? What do these examples tell us about what type of person might treat others unfairly based on stereotypes/prejudices associated with race/gender/etc.?
Bias can be intentional or unintentional. Intentional bias is when we think we’re making a fair choice, but are actually influenced by stereotypes. For example, if you’re judging job candidates based on their gender and not their qualifications, that’s an example of intentional discrimination.
Unintentional bias is when people are unaware that they have an unconscious preference for one group over another–for example: if you don’t realise your unconscious bias toward women means you tend to hire them over men for leadership roles more often than deserved (or vice versa).
It’s hard to recognise unconscious bias because we’re often not even aware of the stereotypes we hold about other groups. But it can happen to anyone, regardless of their race or gender. We might be unconsciously biased towards people who are like us–and even towards those who aren’t so much. This is called “in-group” bias, which means that we value ourselves more than others in our own group and therefore judge them negatively when they do something different from us (or worse yet, if they do things that are better). For example:
- If you’re working on a team of engineers at work and one of your colleagues brings up an idea for improving productivity while everyone else disagrees with him/her vehemently and loudly enough that everyone can hear them…that might be an indication that there’s some sort of “us versus them” dynamic at play here which could potentially lead to unpleasantness later down the road!
Stereotypes often lead us to favour some people over others when making decisions, which means we might miss out on opportunities for learning from others’ experiences.
In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers asked participants to rate how much they agreed with stereotypes about different groups of people (e.g., men are good at maths; women are more nurturing). After taking part in this exercise, participants were then asked what they thought would happen if the stereotype was reversed–that is, if women were seen as being better at maths than men. They found that those who had previously agreed with gender stereotypes most strongly tended not to change their minds after being exposed to information that contradicted these beliefs–even though their new-found knowledge could have helped them make better decisions when faced with real-life situations involving other people.
We may be unaware that our behaviour is influenced by biases until someone points them out to us, making it impossible to change them consciously. You might also not realise that a certain way of thinking about people or things is biased. For example, if someone has a disability and asks for help with something simple such as opening a door, they may be seen as less capable than others who don’t have disabilities – even though it’s the same task!
In this case, the person with an impairment will find it harder to open doors themselves because they’ve been treated differently by others in their day-to-day living environment (eg at home). It’s important to recognise when we’re being influenced by biases so that we can learn how to change them.
We all have unconscious biases, and these can be unconscious because they’ve been internalised over time and become part of our identity. The first step towards changing your behaviour is becoming aware of your own unconscious biases, so here’s some questions you should ask yourself:
- What are my personal values?
- Do I tend towards being compassionate or harsh towards others?
- Do I like people who are kind or mean spirited?
- Do I feel uncomfortable around certain groups (e.g., people who are different from me in race/culture/economic status etc.)?
- Are there other things about myself that might influence how I perceive others’ behaviour and perspectives around them (e.g., if someone tells me something negative about someone else – even though they were just trying to help – then I may start believing my own version).
The best way to avoid being influenced by unconscious bias is to be aware of it. The next time you’re making decisions, think about people and groups whose experience may be different from your own. What stereotypes might be influencing your decision? How can you use this information to make better decisions?
