WAKING UP TO UNCONSCIOUS BIAS JOY WARMINGTON, CEO

Transcription

1 WAKING UP TO UNCONSCIOUS BIAS JOY WARMINGTON, CEO brap, The Arch, First Floor, Floodgate Street, Birmingham B5 5SL Telephone: Facebook: brap.human.rights

2 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

3 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

4 TYPES OF BIAS 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 of 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.

5 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

6 HOW TO DE-BIAS What kinds of things do I need to be mindful of? How is bias reinforced by me and others 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 organisations/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

7 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!

8 TRANSFORMING THE WAY WE THINK AND DO EQUALITY