Unconscious Bias Explained

What is Unconscious Bias?

katie hopkins

It is a fact that people don’t always speak their minds, unless you are Katie Hopkins of course who insists that “she is only telling the truth” whilst upsetting the nation in her outspoken, opinionated articles and interviews.  Katie displays biases but they are certainly not unconscious.

Unconscious bias is when we judge someone based on their appearance whether it be their age, build, hair colour or gender for example, even though we don’t mean to.  It is by no means an indication of an individual’s true beliefs but more a result of our psychological make-up.

It is only by carrying out unconscious bias testing that we can learn to reduce the effects and introduce techniques to try to eliminate these biases.

Why is it important to eliminate Unconscious Bias?

In our private lives our subconscious preferences lead us into our preferred social groups who share similar backgrounds and interests.  This behaviour often goes unnoticed until it is pointed out to us, and does not cause a problem as we are all entitled to make our own choices.  However, problems do arise when we take these hidden biases into the workplace.

Well, we are all human and as a result we all exhibit our own set of preferences for certain traits without being fully aware of our behaviour.  As an example, an Office Manager can unknowingly favour employees close to their own age, or perhaps those employees that are more extrovert.  This could cause the Manager to assign tasks to those employees with which they have a close affinity.

These preferences could also influence the Manager when making important employment decisions, like the hiring of staff, appraisals, promotions and staff restructuring.

When unconscious bias comes into play in influencing Management decisions, it could inadvertently affect legally protected groups and ultimately subject the company to discrimination claims.

How do we deal with the risks of Unconscious Bias?

Effective steps need to be taken to correct unconscious bias and stereotyping behaviour to achieve full inclusion and diversity in the workplace.

One of the first steps is to undertake is an Unconscious Bias Test to make employees aware of what their subconscious biases are.

Implicitly is just one example of the type of tests that can be used to uncover the unconscious biases that are likely to have an impact on an individual’s behaviour.  Reaction time is used to measure biases relating to disability, age, gender, sexual orientation and ethnic origin.

Evaluation of unconscious biases using such tests is proven to be of benefit to the participants with significant changes in their behaviour being shown as a result of their hidden preferences being addressed.

 

In helping Managers and employees identify their unconscious biases your business will reap the benefits associated with increased diversity.

 

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