Unconscious Bias

What is unconscious bias?

Bias is generally divided into two types: conscious bias (also known as explicit bias) and unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias).

Unconscious bias is the attitudes and judgements that affect our views and decisions based on our prior experience, our own personal deep-seated thought patterns, or assumptions (Frith, 2015). They are the snap decisions we make without thinking. The unconscious part of this concept indicates we are unaware that these decisions are impacted by the stories, beliefs, and perceptions we may have of others. The bias part of the concept implies that we are influenced in some way in our decision making.

Each of us holds a set of perspectives that help us navigate this complex world efficiently.

The basis of unconscious bias

According to studies in cognitive science, our brains receive 11 million pieces of information every second, but we can only process 50 of those details consciously. This makes us more than 99% unconscious (William, 2006). Humans must process vast amounts of information and make fast decisions with limited amounts of time. This information processing happens at a rapid speed and contributes to how we make sense of the world. It is a necessary function that supports us in day-to-day life, to help us avoid danger.

In his book “Thinking Fast and Slow, author and psychologist Daniel Kahneman identified that our brains have two systems (Kahneman, 2011):

• System one accounts for 98% of our overall thinking, and is the fast, unconscious, automated thought processor that we do not realize is functioning in our day-to-day life. Our brain relies on heuristics or mental shortcuts to process vast amounts of information quickly.
• System two accounts for the remaining 2% of our thinking. It is our slower thought processor that is initiated when we think consciously and deliberately.

Kahneman explains that heuristics are the shortcuts that humans use to reduce task complexity in judgment and choice; and bias is introduced when we make assumptions based upon those shortcuts.  The shortcuts we take are based on our past experiences and can include the effects of socialization (cultural norms and societal influences that shape our perspectives from an early age). An example of this is if we see a baby in a stroller dressed in pink we automatically presume it is a girl, with very little reflection on how we came to that conclusion.

Most of the time, these processes are very helpful.  They are useful in simplifying massive amounts of information and aid in decision-making, especially under time constraints.

To help better understand how we use heuristics, think of an outfielder catching a fly ball. Gray Gigerenzer (2017) illustrates how outfielders rely on simple heuristics to catch fly balls during a baseball game:

“The player fixates on the ball, starts running, and adjusts their running speed so that their angle of gaze remains constant. Using this heuristic, a player does not have to estimate any of the variables necessary to calculate the ball’s trajectory, including the initial angle and speed, spin, and direction of wind, nor solve differential equations to calculate the point where the ball will land. Rather, the gaze heuristic will guide them to that point without computing the exact spot.”

The trouble with heuristics is that our minds tend to overuse them. Applying them in situations for which they aren’t suited can lead us to make mistakes.

When YouTube launched the video upload feature, 10% of videos were uploaded upside-down and Google developers were confused (Ammanath, 2017). Google engineers had designed the app for right-handed users and never considered the fact that phones are usually rotated 180 degrees when held in the users left-hand.  Due to unconscious bias, Google designers centred their right hand experience as the norm and never considered the possibility of a left-handed user.

This is the challenge with unconscious bias; we are processing vast amounts of information and cannot always stop ourselves in the moment.  If our actions and judgements are based upon this initial thought it is more likely to be biased.  However, if we pause and ask the question “… and why do I think this?” we are more likely to interrupt our biases and acknowledge them.

Types of Bias

Although people like to believe that they are rational and logical, judging a situation based on the facts, the reality is that we are continually under the influence of a variety of biases that can distort our thinking and influence our decisions and judgements. Understanding your biases and assumptions is crucial to clear thinking.  All of us, regardless of education, experience or good intentions, are susceptible to bias. There are hundreds of different biases.  Let’s look at some common types.

Affinity Bias

Affinity bias is the tendency to connect easily to people like ourselves. We favour those who have something in common with us, such as physical characteristics, interests or backgrounds. This means that we tend to like those who share our values and beliefs and whose opinions agree with ours (Ricee, 2023).

What are potential impacts of this bias? Consider the following scenario: if the person you have to write an evaluation of is someone who graduated from your alma mater, you may rate them higher than the person you have little or no connection with. Unconsciously, the person with whom you have a perceived affinity will automatically have an edge over the others,  whether they deserve it or not. Or during an admissions process for a program with limited spots you may favour participants with the same gender identity as yourself.

How do we negate this type of bias? Standardization in the decision making process slows down thinking so that your automatic and unconscious gut reaction can be replaced with methodical and deliberate action.

Halo & Horn Bias

A group of similar biases are the halo and horn effect. These are the biases that exist when assumptions are made about a person based on heavily weighting one characteristic about them. The halo effect refers to the tendency to allow one specific trait to positively influence our judgment of their other related traits (Perera, 2023). With the horn effect, the weight is placed on one terrible quality.

A study by Solomon Asch asked participants to look at a series of photographs of individuals and rate them on various personality traits. The participants were shown either an attractive or unattractive photograph of the same person, randomly assigned (Perera, 2023). The results showed that participants consistently rated the individuals in the attractive photographs as having more positive personality traits, such as intelligence or kindness, compared to those in the unattractive photographs (Perera, 2023). This demonstrates how first impressions of physical attractiveness influences our perception of other unrelated qualities.

Perception Bias

Perception bias is the tendency to perceive ourselves, others and our environment in a subjective way (Nikolopoulou, 2023). It is our propensity to form stereotypes and assumptions which makes it difficult to develop an objective judgement.  Perception bias is typically based on a larger labelling of a group, and influences everyone associated with that group (Nikolopoulou, 2023).

Think of how characters are portrayed in movies: popular kids often play sports; “nerds” wear glasses; and villains may have scars. This type of bias occurs when our brain filters multiple stimuli and the brain selects one or a few of these cues out of the many (Nikolopoulou, 2023). We are left with a representation of the situation at hand which is informed by both the objective information and our prior beliefs, hopes and emotions.

Our tendency to form opinions outside of objective facts is well-documented. According to a study led by researcher Moss-Racusin, there is an assumption that men are better suited for science and technology related jobs than women. Applications for a laboratory manager position were randomly assigned a female or male name and reviewed by science faculty from research intensive universities.  Male applicants were rated as significantly more competent than identical female applicants (Moss-Racusin, 2012).

Activity

Read the following story and imagine it playing out in your head.

You and your friend are going on a hike in the Alberta Rockies near Banff.  It is a clear blue sky with no wind and a comfortable 18 degrees.  The perfect weather for hiking.

The route has some challenging sections that include traversing scree slopes and navigating around large boulders near some steep cliffs.  You meet a climber who greets you and inquires if you have the right gear as the trail is challenging ahead. Your hike culminates in a beautiful ridge walk where you both enjoy the scenery.  You decide to stop here and eat lunch.

As you both are eating you are approached by a married couple who ask if you would mind taking a picture of them. You take some time to enjoy the scenery and then pack up and begin your descent.  As you enter the treeline, a mountain biker approaches.  You and your friend look at each other and smile, thinking that is one steep climb for a bike!

You return to the trailhead  tired but happy.

I have some questions for you:

• Was the climber a woman?
• Were the married couple two men?
• Was the mountain biker a retired individual?
• What does your friend look like? Similar age, gender and ethnicity to you?
• Did anyone in this scenario have a visible disability?
• Reflect on this visualization. What do you think contributed to the mental pictures you painted?

Although it is not possible to entirely eliminate bias, we can reduce its impacts.  Tackling the underlying unconscious bias can be achieved by acknowledging the problem exists, asking questions to get more information, and avoiding statements with absolutes.  Consider the following questions:

• What are my expectations from this situation or decision?
• Have I talked with people that have different opinions? Exposure to diversity of thought is a great way to avoid perception bias.

With this in mind, what steps can you take today to change your perceptions?

 

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is described as seeking out evidence that confirms our initial perceptions, ignoring contrary information. (Simkus, 2023) It functions like a debate, where confirmation bias gets on one side of that debate and allows us to only accept what supports our argument. We become stubborn and refuse to change our opinion. We seek out information and evidence that justifies our position or makes us feel like we were right all along.

One of the most common examples of confirmation bias is how we seek out or interpret news stories.  We are more likely to believe a story if it aligns with our existing views.

To combat confirmation bias:

• Review the data we have in our possession.
• Review the pros and the cons to objectively make a decision based on both sides of the data.
• Consider all the evidence available, rather than just the evidence that supports your views.
• Ask others to review your conclusions or add their perspectives.
• Be willing to change your mind.

Microaggressions

Introduction

One way implicit biases can manifest is in the form of microaggressions, which are subtle and sometimes even unintentional forms of prejudice. They often show up in offhand comments, jokes or pointed insults.

Dr. Derald Wing Sue, a professor of counselling psychology, coined the term and described it as “the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.”

Harvard Business Review reports that the cumulative effects of microaggressions result in increased rates of stress, depression, prolonged trauma and physical implications such as headaches, high blood pressure and difficulty sleeping (Washington, 2022).  The reality is that the impacts are not micro at all.

Types of Microaggressions

1. Microassault is characterized primarily by a violent verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt the intended victim through name-calling, avoidant behaviour or purposeful discriminatory actions. This is conscious behaviour (Sue, 2007).
2. Microinvalidation are phrases or behaviours that exclude or negate the feelings, or experiential reality of a person of colour (Sue, 2007). This has also been called gaslighting. It is usually unconscious and is used by dominant groups to dismiss the experiences of an equity seeking group
3. Microinsults are remarks or comments that convey rudeness, insensitivity and demean a person’s racial heritage or identity.  This is also usually unconscious (Sue, 2007). Examples of this are insensitive jokes or repeatedly mispronouncing names.

What Do Microaggressions Look Like?

The following examples are adapted from Derald Wing Sue’s “Microaggression: More Than Just Race.”

Racial Microaggressions

• A White man or woman clutches their purse or checks their wallet as a Black or Indigenous man approaches or passes them.
  • Hidden message: You and your group are criminals.
• An Asian American, born and raised in Canada, is complimented for speaking “good English.”
  • Hidden message: You are not a true Canadian. You are a perpetual foreigner in your own country.

Gender Microaggressions

• An assertive female manager is labelled as a “pushy,” while her male counterpart is described as “a leader.”
  • Hidden message: Women should be passive and allow men to be the decision makers.
• A female physician wearing a stethoscope is mistaken as a nurse.
  • Hidden message: Women should occupy nurturing and not decision-making roles. Women are less capable than men.

Sexual Orientation Microaggressions

• A person uses the term “gay” to describe a movie that they didn’t like.
  • Hidden message: Being gay is associated with negative and undesirable characteristics.
• Two gay men hold hands in public and are told not to flaunt their sexuality.
  • Hidden message: Same-sex displays of affection are abnormal and offensive. Keep it private and to yourselves.

Religion, disability, and social class are also subject to microaggressions. Some of these examples include the following:

• A blind man reports that people often raise their voices when speaking to him. He responds by saying, “Please don’t raise your voice; I can hear you perfectly well.”
  • Hidden message: A person with a disability is defined as lesser in all aspects of physical and mental functioning.
• The outfit worn by a TV reality-show mom is described as “classless and trashy.”
  • Hidden message: Lower-class people are tasteless and unsophisticated.

What To Do

What if you realize you have committed a microaggression?  Monica Williams in Psychology Today outlines some good first steps:

• Set aside defensiveness: it can be easy at this stage to claim that was not your intent, but the point is to address the impact
• Ask for clarification and listen for understanding, not a response
• Thank them – this is not an easy conversation. Then acknowledge your biases and blind-spots.
• Apologize at the very end.
• Stuck for words? Try this: “I am very sorry that what I said was hurtful.   I can now better understand how I was wrong in this situation. I will work to become more aware of _____________ [the topic that you need to increase your cultural awareness of].”
• If appropriate create space for follow-up

References

Ammanath, B. (2017, January 30) Consciously overcoming unconscious bias. CIO. https://www.cio.com/article/234087/consciously-overcoming-unconscious-bias.html

Derald Wing Sue. et al. (2007) Racial Microagressions in Everyday Life. American Psychologist. 62(4), pg 271-286 https://www.cpedv.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_be_an_effective_ally-lessons_learned_microaggressions.pdf

Frith, U. (2015) Unconscious Bias. The Royal Society. https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/publications/2015/unconscious-bias-briefing-2015.pdf

Gigerenzer, G. Gray, W. (2017, April 6) A Simple Heuristic Successfully Used by Humans, Animals, and Machines. Topics in Cognitive Science. V9:02 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12269

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Nikolopoulou, K. (2023, March 6) What is Perception Bias? Definitions & Examples. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/research-bias/perception-bias/#:~:text=Perception%20bias%20is%20a%20broad,beliefs%2C%20expectations%2C%20or%20emotions.

Moss-Racusin, C. et al. (2012, September 17.) Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students. Psychological and Cognitive Sciences. 109 (41)

Perera, A. (2023, September 7) Halo Effect in Psychology: Definition and Examples. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/halo-effect.html

Ricee, S. (2023, July 13) What is Affinity Bias? Diversity Social. https://diversity.social/affinity-bias-definition/

Simkus, J. (2023, June 2022) Confirmation Bias in Psychology: Definition & Examples. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/confirmation-bias.html

Wiliam, D.  (2006) The half‐second delay: what follows? Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 14:01, 71-81 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14681360500487470

Washington, E. (2022, May 10) Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions at Work.  Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/05/recognizing-and-responding-to-microaggressions-at-work

Williams, M. T. (2022, May 23) You’ve Committed a Microaggression – Now What? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/culturally-speaking/202005/you-ve-committed-microaggression-now-what