We are all biased!
We are all biased or prejudiced to some degree. Prejudice simply means pre-judging someone, before we have supporting or contradictory evidence.
Why is there so much attention to our psychological tendency to be biased or prejudiced? Because our decision-making might result in outcomes we didn’t intend. Our unconscious biases can affect our decision-making with respect to hiring, appraising performance, evaluations, team-building, choosing friends and even our careers. It’s easier to take the perspective of someone who resembles our own demographic characteristics or make a decision that confirms our past patterns or experiences.
Affinity bias and Stereotype bias are two common forms of bias present in the workplace.
Affinity Bias occurs when we gravitate to people like us and create a sense of familiarity. We are fundamentally biased to favour people similar to us and biased against those that are different.
Stereotype bias operates when we live up, or down, to the expectation placed on us. Reminding women of the stereotype that they are not good at maths has been shown to diminish their performance in maths tests. Interestingly, Hillary Clinton’s announcement that she would run for the Presidency of the US brought another example out of the woodwork: “How can a woman who is 70 be President?” Did Ronald Reagan ever suffer those comments?
In Australia, a 2010 study showed that applicants from diverse backgrounds had to submit significantly more applicants to secure job interviews. To attain as many interviews as an Anglo job applicant, an Italian person had to submit 12% more applications, an Indigenous person 35%, a Middle Eastern person 64%, more and a Chinese person, 68% more.
Bias does not make us bad people – it just means we have developed bad thinking habits! Just being aware of the potential for bias is enough to start shifting our behaviour. Bias-countering strategies in the workplace can help to make unconscious biases conscious. In other words, it makes us aware of our thinking patterns so that we can make rational evidence-baseddecisions, not decisions based on these faulty thinking habits.
