What You Should Know About Unconscious Bias And The Role It Plays In Dictating Your Actions

Any human being is the sum of their thoughts, their biases, stereotypes they lean on and their life experience. To say you're an objective person and you've never judged anyone is as true as humans never having walked the earth. We all have a strong relationship with implicit bias and that's how we exist daily.

Know your bias

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Implicit bias or unconscious bias is how we judge people on the basis of our beliefs, feelings, our love for or aversion to people. Our culture and the society we live in add to this experience. Implicit bias is quick and without thought, and it occurs when the brain decides to take a short cut in order to help us judge people and our surroundings. The brain takes this short cut in order to make sense of things in a really short span of time. Kind of like trying to navigate reality while also working on storing huge amounts of information.

But before you think we're all bad human beings, know that bias is not something we control or are even aware of. There's no ill-thought here.

Men and women

Research claims that we unconsciously prefer women over men, and mothers over fathers. That's possibly because women are implicitly perceived as warm, caring and giving. Theconversation.com adds, this effect, however, disappears, and even reverses, the moment women step in to the “male domain” or otherwise challenge stereotypical expectations. Now think back to all the moments you found it easier to deal with a housewife than a businesswoman. Those moments are plenty. That's your implicit bias in action.

The study goes on to say that women prefer a gender egalitarian man or someone who isn't 'typical' or sexist. Men on the other hand, tend to not prefer this man.

Check your bias

As a woman, when you see yourself trailing behind a fellow woman driver on the road, your first reaction is 'oh, no.' Pause. Check your bias. Your bias doesn't necessarily make the stereotype true. Does that make you a hypocrite? Not necessarily, because bias, as mentioned earlier, is not something we have complete control over. When you didn't stop and check your bias that time, does that make you a hypocrite. No because you probably weren't even aware your bias was at play. When you stopped and thought about it, is when you checked your bias.

How it affects our actions

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Unfortunately, bias affects our actions. You may imagine yourself to be unbiased and a good decision-maker, say when you're hiring someone. Sadly, more research suggests that this over-inflated sense of self is just that. Over-inflated. Your and your bias were both scanning the resume that otherwise was impeccable but you saw what college they went to (the one you tried to get in to and didn't), and decided it wasn't a match.

Imagine seeing a bunch of burly men on bikes that match them in size. Now imagine seeing a man dressed in a regular ol' jacket and jeans standing across the street. Who are you more likely to approach? The answer shouldn't surprise you now. The stereotype bias is hard to miss.

Our biases affect our actions in a whole bunch of ways:

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-Micro-affirmations - how you selectively console someone who you think deserves it, and reserve your words when it comes to someone whom you don't deem worthy enough
-Perceptions - if that person sits quietly at their desk and doesn't mingle much then surely they're up to something nasty
- Attitude - if you're in a dark mood, then you might find it hard to see anything good
- Attention - what aspect of a person you pay most attention to: they have too much facial hair, their nails are too long
- Listening - you zone out when a person who you don't like is talking but are twice as engrossed if you think it's gossip

What can you do?

Not jump to conclusions. Slow way the hell down and think twice before acting on any impulse. Try and read the situation well and check your bias (again) if any. Be objective. Being self aware is key. Staying motivated in order to become unbiased is another important aspect of the process.

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