Challenging Unconscious Bias

What is "Unconscious Bias"? According to Siofra Pratt (2016), "bias is an inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group. In other words, unconscious bias are unconscious feelings we have towards other people – unconscious feelings that play a strong part in influencing our judgement of certain people and groups, away from being balanced or even-handed, in many different areas of life."

One of the most prominent areas of life where bias can play out is the workplace. In fact, one of the strongest biases we have in the workplace is gender bias. Why? Well, our feelings about gender and the stereotypes we’ve all associated with gender are something we’ve developed throughout our whole lives. How we’ve been brought up, where we’ve been brought up, how we’ve been socialised, our socialisation experiences, our exposure to other social identities and social groups, who our friends are/were, as well as media influences, all affect how we think and feel about certain types of people – and especially about what makes a man a man and what makes a woman a woman.

It’s important to mention however, that most bias stereotypes, do not come from a place of bad intent. It’s just a deep seated, unconscious stereotype that’s been formed in our brains through years of different influences we often had no control over. For example, just think about of all the phrases you’ve heard associated with women in the workplace over the years, like “The Glass Ceiling”, “The Maternal Wall” and the “Gender Pay Gap”.

How does Bia Affect our Actions?

Pratt further proffers, “Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. We imagine we’re good decision makers, able to objectively size up a job candidate or a venture deal and reach a fair and rational conclusion that’s in our, and our organization’s, best interests,” writes Harvard University researcher Mahzarin Banaji in the Harvard Business Review. “But more than two decades of research confirms that, in reality, most of us fall woefully short of our inflated self-perception.”

According to Pratt, in reality our biases affects us and our decision-making processes in a number of different ways:

Our Perception – how we see people and perceive reality.

Our Attitude – how we react towards certain people.

Our Behaviours – how receptive/friendly we are towards certain people.

Our Attention – which aspects of a person we pay most attention to.

Our Listening Skills – how much we actively listen to what certain people say.

Our Micro-affirmations – how much or how little we comfort certain people in certain situations.

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