Author: Sushil Tayal
Introduction
With the speed of the world increasing every day, all of us are expected to make quick decisions. Technology has also increased the information overload on us making quick decisions more difficult. Quick decisions have become a non-negotiable necessary evil in our lives today. These quick decisions largely originate or are influenced by the quick memory of our brains (unconscious mind) that shapes our perceptions, attitudes, and decisions without conscious awareness. These auto-pilot choices can lead to flawed judgement, unintended discrimination and unfair treatment in different aspects of our lives including the workplace. Biases are like invisible strings in our minds that sway our thoughts, choices, and how we act in a given situation. Identifying, acknowledging and managing unconscious bias is critical for creating an inclusive workplace & society. In this article, we will dive deep to know about unconscious bias, its implications on our conduct and explore practical techniques to prevent or mitigate its impact.
What is unconscious bias?
Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, refers to learned assumptions & beliefs that exist in our subconscious mind. These are automatic associations, involuntary judgments & stereotypes our brains create toward others that influence the way we think & act.
Everyone has these biases and uses them as mental shortcuts for faster information processing. They are built over time through our Implicit memory (unconscious retention and influence of past experiences that shape our perceptions and behaviours without our conscious awareness), upbringing and social & cultural experiences. Our brain constantly seeks patterns in the environment to make sense of the world. This pattern recognition is an efficient way to categorize and process information quickly. Unconscious biases are a result of the brain’s natural tendency to tag and categorise information for quick understanding therefore, they are not necessarily indicative of a person’s character or intentions.
Heuristics (mental shortcuts or thumb rules that the brain uses) help our brain make decisions efficiently but also lead to biases by relying on preconceived notions. Availability Heuristics (relying on easily accessible information to make judgments) further compound our judgements. If certain stereotypes or biases are more readily available in our minds (through media exposure or cultural influences), they influence our decision-making.
These cognitive processes do help our brain process information and are not inherently negative, these can also lead to unconscious biases when left unchecked. They potentially have significant negative consequences like unfair treatment, exclusion, and perpetuation of stereotypes. These do affect the way we recruit, interact with colleagues and make decisions, and do impact the culture & team dynamics. Given these biases operate at a subconscious level, it is difficult to identify and manage them without deliberate effort.
Impact of Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias can have far-reaching effects in every sphere of our life. In the workplace, biases do influence recruitment and selection decisions, performance management, and career growth. They also hinder diversity & inclusion, limits the perspectives, creativity & innovation within the team or organisation. Moreover, unconscious biases do lead to microaggressions, discriminatory behaviours, and unfair treatment, causing wellbeing issues and perpetuating systemic inequalities.
Types of Unconscious Bias
- Implicit Association Bias: This involves our subconscious associations between certain groups and specific attributes or qualities. These biases can influence how we perceive and interact with people from different backgrounds, races, genders, or other characteristics. For example, associating women with nurturing roles or associating certain ethnic groups with negative stereotypes. To avoid Implicit Association bias:
- Continuously challenge your assumptions by asking yourself how do I really know that person / the group they belong to?
- Check if we have enough data points to arrive at any judgement about the person/group
- Always look for contra evidence to challenge our belief/hypothesis
- Validating the data with multiple sources may reduce the bias.
- Continuously challenge your assumptions by asking yourself how do I really know that person / the group they belong to?
- Check if we have enough data points to arrive at any judgement about the person/group
- Always look for contra evidence to challenge our belief/hypothesis
- Validating the data with multiple sources may reduce the bias.
- Affinity Bias: It is about unconscious preference for individuals with similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences like us. We tend to feel more comfortable with people who are similar to us than people who are different from us. At the workplace, this can result in us hiring or promoting people who are from the same college, geography, ethnicity or share our traits and inadvertently excluding diverse perspectives. A hiring manager might favour candidates who align with their own personality or background, overlooking qualified individuals with different experiences. To avoid affinity bias:
- In hiring use technology to screen and technically evaluate candidates
- A diverse hiring panel consisting of people with varying backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, perspectives and interests may help reduce the affinity bias in hiring.
- Psychometric assessment may help overcome subjectivity in “culture fit” assessment” in all people decisions
- Constantly monitor diversity metrics within the team/organisation to prevent/reduce the impact of this bias
- Confirmation Bias: This involves we seeking out or giving more weightage to information /elements that confirm our existing beliefs & attitudes and disregarding evidence that contradicts them. This bias impacts our ability to think critically & objectively, which leads us to incorrect interpretations of information. For example, A manager who believes an employee is underperforming may tend to focus on negative incidents, ignoring positive contributions of the employee during the performance review period. A team might overestimate a project’s success based on early positive results, ignoring potential risks & challenges. People often choose news that aligns with their political views, reinforcing their beliefs and ignoring opposing viewpoints. Someone who believes a particular diet is healthy might dismiss scientific evidence that contradicts their beliefs. To avoid Confirmation bias:
- Developing critical thinking is the best way to avoid confirmation bias. Actively consider the opposite viewpoint to challenge your assumptions. Deliberately seek out information that contradicts your existing beliefs.
- Increase evidence-based decision-making by relying on facts & data rather than intuition or gut feelings.
- Seek peer review of your decisions / thinking to get different perspectives on a situation.
- Cultivating open-mindedness, seeking out diverse perspectives by engaging with people who hold different viewpoints.
- Be open to new information and changing your mind.
- Promote & reward curiosity in the team. Recognise and reward people on the team who seek out new information and perspectives.
- Gender bias – Gender bias occurs when someone unconsciously associates certain stereotypes with different genders and hence favours one gender over another. It can manifest in various forms, both overt and subtle. Gender bias has been impacting all spheres of life and that’s the reason we see gender gap everywhere. At the workplace, this bias may affect the hiring, deployment and career development of the employee. For example, women are often stereotyped as being more emotional or less capable than men hence Women are underrepresented in leadership positions. A hiring panel generally favours male candidates over female candidates for a role that requires extensive travel. The gender pay gap is another example. Societal expectations about how men and women should behave have also resulted in one gender being discriminated against the other. To avoid gender bias:
- Raise awareness about gender bias and its impact.
- Use gender-neutral language and avoid stereotypes in communication.
- Actively challenge gender stereotypes in daily conversations and interactions.
- Use gender-inclusive language. Use gender-neutral job descriptions and avoid gender-coded language.
- Include women and diverse representatives in hiring, promotion and other talent management decision committees.
- In hiring, practice masked resumes – i.e. remove applicant names and personal information to reduce unconscious bias.
- Track gender diversity metrics and conduct regular pay audits to identify disparities and areas for improvement.
- Halo Effect: The halo effect is when people place another person on a pedestal after learning something impressive about them. We tend to make a general positive assumption about a person based on a single positive trait, ability or action often leading to overestimation and lead to overlooking potential flaws or areas of concern. The halo effect may also include some other bias like Attractiveness Bias etc. A hiring manager may be influenced with the prestigious educational institute the candidate may have passed out and hence assume that the person is competent and shall excel at their job. An employee who is good at public speaking might be rated higher on overall performance, even if their actual work quality is average. A physically attractive person is often perceived as more intelligent, kind and successful. To avoid the halo effect:
- Educate yourself and people about the Halo Effect and its impact.
- Get different perspectives by involving multiple people in the evaluation process.
- Rely on objective data & metrics to make informed decisions.
- Actively question positive impressions and seek evidence to support them.
- Evaluate performance based on concrete actions and outcomes rather than overall impressions.
- Structured interviewing with a diverse interview panel may reduce the impact of the halo effect.
- Asking about failure may help to balance the view
- Horn Effect: Conversely, the Horn Effect is when a negative impression in one area influences overall perception. It occurs when people view another person negatively after learning something unpleasant or negative about them. When we let a single negative trait or experience colour our perception of an individual. Over-emphasis on a single trait or interaction leads to inaccurate and unfair judgments. A single incidence of defiance may lead to a negative perception of the manager about the employee and hampering the employee’s growth. A candidate who arrives late for an interview might be perceived as an unreliable, undisciplined, or casual person even though the person may have strong qualifications & competence. A customer having a negative experience with a company representative is likely to form a negative opinion of the entire company. To avoid the horn effect
- Educate self and people about the Horn Effect and its impact on decision-making.
- Rely on objective data, its preponderance and metrics to informed decisions.
- Question negative first impressions and seek evidence to support them.
- Structured interviewing with a diverse interview panel may reduce the impact of the horn effect.
- Try taking a pause and challenge your perceptions/impressions
- Practice empathy to explore different perspectives of the situation.
- Conformity Bias: Conformity bias is about our tendency to adjust our behaviour or beliefs to fit into a group. Conformity bias occurs when we feel pressured to conform to stereotypes of the group. Instead of using our judgment, we tend to imitate the behaviour of others, to toe the party line thereby impacting our ability to make unbiased decisions. It is similar to groupthink, when we change our opinions or behaviours to match with the group, even if it doesn’t reflect our own thinking/choice. We experience this quite often when we feel peer pressure or feeling of being left out and we try to fit into a certain social group or professional environment. Although conformity prevents conflicts but limits creativity, independence, and diversity of perspectives. Team members might agree with a proposed solution, even if they have doubts, to avoid conflict or appear different. People often adopt fashion trends to fit in with social groups, even if they don’t personally like the style. To avoid conformity bias:
- Promote contra thinking / critical thinking and questioning the status quo.
- Build a culture where diverse perspectives are valued and encouraged.
- Allow individuals to share their opinions anonymously to reduce fear of judgment.
- Promote the Devil’s Advocate in the decisions. Assign someone to challenge group consensus.
- Encourage independent thinking and dissent.
- Recognize and reward individuals for offering alternative viewpoints.
- Using anonymous opinions/votes to allow the freedom to express opinions without worrying about being singled out.
- Contrast effect – it is about making judgments by making comparisons. Our judgments may be altered depending on what standard we’re comparing something to. This effect is usually seen in the hiring decisions as well as in the performance rating decisions. Interviewers start comparing the candidate with another candidate on a specific response and start making judgments on the candidates influenced by that decision instead of assessing the individual against the job requirements. Such instances also happen in career development decisions. There can also be positive contrast effects when something may start looking better in comparison as it’s being compared to something worse / low standard. To avoid the contrast effect:
- Having well-defined parameters for making /arriving at a decision/judgement helps reduce the contrast effect.
- It is always good to have multiple parameters to compare instead of one comparison. Multiple comparisons help in broadening the perspective and reduce bias.
- Being clear on how you have arrived at your conclusion and ability to explain it with absolute clarity with supporting data points helps reduce the contrast effect
- Having a structured evaluation assessment by the hiring panel may reduce the contrast effect in hiring.
- Beauty bias – Also called Attractiveness Bias. It is about differential treatment (generally favourable treatment) to the individuals considered more attractive by us. It also includes discrimination based on physical appearance. It has been proved time & time again that hiring managers are more inclined to hire people with attractive & good-looking physical looks over others. Attractive individuals are often perceived as more competent, confident, and likeable, leading to higher chances of promotions and better job opportunities. Also, attractive-looking individuals tend to get higher compensation and internal growth over others. Physically attractive people are often considered more desirable life partners. To avoid beauty bias:
- Educate people about the existence and impact of beauty bias.
- Implement evaluation systems that focus on skills, experience and performance rather.
- Omit pictures from resumes that will enable decision makers to focus on an applicant’s qualifications and experience when screening resumes.
- Good practice is to have email and phone conversations / short interviews to get to know the candidate better without being influenced by their appearance
- Benevolence bias (Being cruel by being kind) occurs when we want to be kind and make decisions on others’ behalf, thereby not giving others a choice. Benevolence bias is when we limit an individual’s autonomy by presuming what’s best for them. With our intention to be kind & sensitive and even to the extent of being protective, we result in us making decisions on other people’s behalf that take away their choices. It is an act of kindness that backfires on itself and harms the person it was targeted to help. For example, we as a manager may choose not to assign challenging assignments to a returning mother considering the challenge of managing the young child and that may result in hampering the career progression of that women employee. She may feel discriminated against on account of being a mother/woman. Choosing (out of our compassion) to allot simpler tasks to someone considering the personal situation of the person may restrict the competence development of the person. To avoid benevolence bias:
- Have an open conversation with the person and let the other person decide on the choices
- Ask don’t tell. Do not ask leading questions in conversation
- Check if the recommendation is coming from the other person or your compassion
- Allow individuals to share their opinions without any fear of judgment
- Provide an unpressurised environment and allow individuals to choose their path for themselves
- Offer choices without any assumptions
- Educate yourself and people around you to talk openly about benevolence bias and its consequences
- Ageism – Ageism refers to stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or oneself based on age. Some stereotypes like “Boomers are set in their ways and don’t understand new technology. Millennials are lazy and get more done on Instagram than at work” reflect the age based bias. Research data show women over 40 years of age are more disadvantaged by this bias, especially in hiring decisions. Language used in our communications or in recruitment advertisements can also be discriminatory against old people. For example, the need for the young and vibrant team irrespective of the job can be biased against age. Hiring managers may tend to select a young applicant over an aged applicant, though possessing the same competence is a reflection of age bias. Preventing ageism involves combatting age-related stereotypes as well as engaging older team members in the workplace. Avoid ageism bias by:
- Using an inclusive language
- Creating an age friendly workspace and work culture
- Monitoring diversity metrics at the team level
- Training people around breaking their unfounded assumptions
- Fostering cross-generational collaboration including reverse mentoring
- Recency bias: Recency bias is the tendency to weigh recent events more heavily than past occurrences. It means that we often rely our judgements on the latest information while downplaying / Ignoring past data or experiences. This happens as it is easier for our brain to recall recent events than dig into older memories requiring the processing of a large amount of information. This bias is most common in performance conversations where managers may focus on an employee’s recent performance, ignoring their overall contributions throughout the year. While making hiring decisions interviewers may find it harder to fully remember candidates screened earlier in the day hence more inclined to make hiring decisions based on the recent candidate they interviewed. In making investment decisions we get swayed to buy a stock that has recently performed well, ignoring historical performance or potential risks. To avoid recency bias:
- Data-driven decision making is the most effective way
- Capturing data at different stages of interaction does help
- Regularly validating your assumptions. Validate whether recent events are truly representative of long-term trends.
- Having panel decisions / review process can reduce the bias.
- Structured decision making like panel interviews, stage-based qualifying criteria etc are effective ways to reduce bias.
- Primacy bias: Opposite to recency bias is primacy bias. People are more likely to remember and give more weight to the information they encounter first compared to information received later. Initial impressions or information sticks more strongly in our minds. This influences our decision-making and judgments as we tend to ignore the subsequent information though equally or more important. Managers tend to remember one failure in the past and the performance & talent review decisions are marred with that experience though the person might have excelled in the performance post that event. The first impression a candidate makes can significantly influence the interviewer’s overall evaluation, even if later performance in the interview is strong /weak. In a series of interviews, an interviewer might remember the first candidate more vividly and rate them higher than those who were interviewed later, even if the other candidates were equally or more qualified. This bias of carrying over our memories also impacts our judgement on how we relate with people in life. To avoid primacy bias:
- Like in all other cases data-driven decision making is the most effective way
- Capturing data at different stages of interaction does help. Revisiting all the information after it has been presented can help mitigate the bias.
- Active Listening. Paying equal attention to all information presented, regardless of when it is shared.
- While making an evaluation / judgement ensure that critical points are distributed evenly throughout the review period/discussion.
- Structured decision making like panel interviews, stage based qualifying criteria etc are effective ways to reduce bias. Implement checklists or decision matrices that require consideration of all relevant information before concluding.
- Being open to revising initial judgments based on new information.
- Authority bias is the tendency to believe and follow the opinions, actions or instructions of people in positions of authority, without any validation. We often assume that those in power or with expertise are always right. We tend to attribute greater importance & credibility to the opinions or decisions of an authority figure, regardless of the actual merit or the expertise of the authority. It is about following advice or instructions without critical evaluation simply because it comes from someone perceived as an authority. In wars many soldiers commit atrocities, justifying their actions being ordered by their commanders. Team member unquestionably follows their manager’s instructions even though they know instructions are flawed. Employees implement a strategy /action suggested by a senior executive without challenging it simply because it is coming from someone in a higher position, and it must be correct. This bias heavily restricts innovations & critical thinking of the individual & the team. To avoid authority bias:
- Encourage a culture of critical thinking where all opinions, even those from authority figures, are questioned and evaluated
- Encourage inclusive decision making process in the team
- Educate individuals about the risks of authority bias and encourage them to speak up or challenge decisions when they believe there is a better alternative
- Seek multiple perspectives and explore other options or solutions beyond the authority figure’s recommendations.
- Challenge your assumption that authority figures are always correct.
- Status quo bias – This bias describes our preference for the way things are or for things to remain as they are rather than change, even when a change might offer better outcomes. This brings resistance to new ideas, technologies, or processes, as people tend to stick with what they know out of comfort or fear of the unknown. Following the status quo is a naturally safe option as it takes less effort without realising the impact of stagnation. The excuse is why change something when it is working as normal. This bias is a critical barrier to change and innovation. Companies may continue using obsolete processes because employees are accustomed to them, even if newer methods could improve efficacy. Many people resist adopting new equipment or technology, preferring to stick with what they have even if it’s less efficient. Organisations continue to hire from the same demographic group, making no effort to explore new avenues. By repeatedly engaging in the same hiring practices, they miss out on great candidates who can bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the company. To avoid the status quo bias:
- Encourage critical thinking and questioning of existing processes and procedures
- Encourage measured risk taking and support failures in the team
- Encourage and recognize employees who propose and implement new ideas
- Create an environment that celebrates creativity and innovation.
- Create an environment that regularly challenges the comfort zones of individuals and organizations. Make continuous improvement and innovation a priority in anything we do
- Create awareness of the potential risks/loss for maintaining the status quo
- Introduce changes gradually instead of all at once to reduce resistance & allow people to adapt, making the change feel less overwhelming.
- Idiosyncratic rater bias is about the way we evaluate the performance of others. Idiosyncratic rater bias occurs when an individual’s personal preferences, experiences, or subjective judgments influence their ratings or evaluations. We often rate others based on our subjective interpretations of the assessment criteria and our definition of what expected performance means. A manager who excels at project management but knows very little about computer programming. As a result, s/he unknowingly gives higher marks to those who are good at computer programming and lower marks to those who are good at project management or other skills similar to hers. It is because the manager is good at project management, s/he’s likely to have higher standards for this skill. On the other hand, since s/he’s unfamiliar with computer programming and less familiar with the performance standards, is more likely to be lenient. Therefore, the manager’s feedback reflects more on his/her skills than the employee’s skills. Likewise, a manager might consistently rate employees higher or lower based on their subjective criteria, such as their preference for certain work styles or personality traits. If a manager values creativity over punctuality, s/he might rate a creative but less punctual employee more favourably than someone who is highly punctual but less innovative, even if both employees contribute equally to the team. Researches have found that about 60% of a manager’s rating is a reflection of the manager rather than the team member they’re rating. Sources of rater bias may come from other biases, such as the halo effect, affinity bias, and confirmation bias. To avoid idiosyncratic rater bias:
- Having specific and clear evaluation criteria helps reduce this bias
- Seeking supportive evidence for the decision and checking preponderance/weightage may help reduce this bias
- Multi-layer reviews and structured review process to gain a more holistic view of a person’s performance.
- Hold calibration meeting where multiple raters discuss and align their ratings
- Build awareness in raters about their biases and how they might influence their judgments.
Some common techniques that we can apply are:
- Increasing Self-awareness & self-reflections: Consciously educate yourself on the science behind bias by reading more about the subject and attending training on unconscious bias. Stay informed about the latest research & best practices for managing unconscious bias. Constantly engage in self-reflection & introspection to identify your own biases. Regularly take time to reflect on your thoughts, reactions, and decisions. Consider instances where you may have made assumptions based on your bias and explore the underlying reasons. You can take Harvard run free self-assessment to get an insight into your implicit associations.
- Seek feedback: Uncover your blind spots by regularly seeking feedback from your colleagues, friends, and family about your behaviours and decisions. Establish a culture of giving and receiving feedback and hold yourself and others accountable for addressing and rectifying biased behaviour. Build psychological Safety in the team to encourage open & candid conversations.
- Structured Decision-Making: Implement structured decision-making processes that minimise the possibility of bias at play. For example, while hiring blind resume screening, structured interview questions, and diverse hiring panels can reduce bias in recruitment. Have clearly defined parameters of evaluation and wherever possible have diverse evaluation panels to normalise the variance.
- Increase Diverse Exposure: Expand your social & professional networks to include individuals from diverse backgrounds. Exposure to different perspectives helps broaden your understanding and reduce bias.
- Encourage Critical Thinking: Encourage everyone to actively question decisions / points of view and challenge stereotypes. Encourage facts and data-based decisions. Actively seeking different perspectives can help break down stereotypes. As stated earlier build psychological Safety in the team to encourage open & candid conversations.
- Pause – one way to actively challenge and interrupt your own biases when they arise is to pause and question your assumptions and judgments. Seek the validating and contra data and preponderance of the date to the overall situation.
- Build awareness in others – Managing unconscious bias is an ongoing process. Encourage others to attend training to raise their awareness of unconscious bias, its challenges and techniques to deal with it. Create safe spaces where employees can discuss their experiences and perspectives without fear of judgment.
In addition, check out our 6 Magical Hacks to Manage Your Unconscious Bias
To sum up unconscious biases are deeply ingrained aspects of human cognition impacting our judgment and decisions. Managing unconscious bias is not a one-time task but an ongoing journey. While one can’t eliminate unconscious bias, by being self-aware and acknowledging our biases, educating ourselves and others around us, taking micro steps, and setting systems & processes of regular evaluations can reduce them and be objective & inclusive.
At Enabling World, we are committed to supporting organisations and individuals to provide fair treatment and eliminate biases in their decision-making. Explore our training interventions to help your team reduce and prevent unconscious bias at play.
Let me know by putting in comments, your views on these 4 paths and your experience around these paths of leadership. Do share the tips that helped you build your successful leadership style. Looking forward to seeing your input.
Sushil Tayal – Enabling World
#Unconsciousbias #inclusion
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One Response
Great article very comprehensive and a good reference for DEI professionals