UNCONSCIOUS BIAS JOY WARMINGTON, CEO brap, The Arch, First Floor, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WAKING UP TO UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

JOY WARMINGTON, CEO

brap, The Arch, First Floor, 48-52 Floodgate Street, Birmingham B5 5SL Email: brap@brap.org.uk | Telephone: 0121 272 8450 Twitter: @braphumanrights | Facebook: brap.human.rights WWW.BRAP.ORG.UK

ABOUT BRAP

• brap is an equalities and human rights charity
• Our mission is to transform the way we think and do

equality

• We support organisations, communities, and cities
• Learning, change, research, and community

engagement

• For more information please go to our website www.brap.org.uk

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Unconscious bias – definition

Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favourable and unfavourable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control (Blair, 2002; Rudman, 2004a). Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness.

Source: State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review 2014 by Cheryl Staats

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TYPES PES OF BIA IAS

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• 1. Affinity bias

Affinity bias is an emotional bias that causes irrational decisions driven by perception and reflection of values.

Examples:

 people who look like us, sound like us, behave like us = favouritism re educational background, social class, hobbies and interests  affects perceptions

• f

competence thus affecting hiring and talent/people management decisions  we ignore faults of people we like and notice more faults of people from groups we unconsciously don’t like

• 2. Confirmation bias

In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to errors.

Examples:

 based upon stereotypes, .e.g. we search for or interpret information that is selective and confirms our existing perceptions  use ambiguous evidence to support an existing position  this leads decision-makers and others to weight information that confirms existing viewpoints as well as ignore, discount or be blind to information that may contradict existing perceptions

• 3. Attribution bias

In psychology, an attribution bias or attributional bias is a cognitive bias that refers to the systematic errors made when people evaluate or try to find reasons for their own and others' behaviours.

Examples :

 if someone is part of your ‘in group’ your evaluation of their successes are likely to be based on your belief in their knowledge, skills and attributes  if someone is part of your ‘out group’ your evaluation of their successes are likely to be based on external factors – the people they worked with, the support that they had etc.  if someone is part of your ‘in group’ your evaluation of their failures is likely to be based on external factors – situations outside of their control  if someone is part of your ‘out group’ your evaluation of their failures is likely to be based to their lack of skills, knowledge or attributes.

HOW TO ADDRESS YOUR BIASES?

• Unconscious bias – difficult to spot, not the same as

prejudices

• You can see the impact of unconscious bias in what we

do – review your own patterns and trends, who you like/dislike etc

• Bias is like a muscle – you can exercise it!
• Think about how you make critical decisions, remember

when you are in a rush – your unconscious takes over

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HO HOW TO W TO DE DE-BIAS BIAS

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What kinds of things do I need to be mindful of? How is bias reinforced by me and

• thers around me?

What strategies can I use to help de-bias?

 Who I like and dislike  How I use my time, who gets it  My levels of comfort with different people  What I’ve heard about other people – both positive and negative  My own listening skills – things that I find uncomfortable to hear about myself and others  My body language – it can leak my feelings  Information that ‘feeds’ my own stereotypes and justifies my behaviour /decision-making  Being with ‘like-minded’ people that reinforce my own beliefs  My ‘gut instinct’  Media  Types of people that are promoted, recruited  Who I see in positions of power -roles people hold, i.e. women, BME, cleaners / security?  Who holds the status of being a good leader and how they lead  How others, including myself, talk about groups of people and my own ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups  Rewards / sanctions by

• rganisations/individuals connected to the

system  Unwillingness to challenge the status quo  High potential to reinforce the status quo – attribution bias  Whose potential has been spotted – who’s being championed?  Write things down – your brain doesn’t have the capacity to be objective  Avoid making big decisions when you are stressed  Review the basis for your decisions and ask yourself if there is objective data to support your action or if unconscious bias is at work  Benchmarking, look back at the decisions you have made – why do ratings differ? Can you substantiate them?  Practise negative feedback  Set up peer learning processes to help you to enhance your objectivity and to actively notice all bias types  Deliberately step outside your comfort zone

ADDRESSING BIAS WITHIN AN ORGANISATION

• Important that individuals are aware of their biases – but

recognise that they will need support

• Organisations need to help mitigate for biases by putting in

place actions which can change the behaviour of individuals

• Organisations need to develop a narrative in which biases

can be openly discussed and supportively challenged

• Bias training is helpful – but not on its own!

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TRANSFORMING

THE WAY WE

THINK AND

DO EQUALITY

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