Our Micro-affirmations – how much or how little we comfort certain people in certain situations.Our Listening Skills – how much we actively listen to what certain people say.Our Attention – which aspects of a person we pay most attention to.Our Behaviours – how receptive/friendly we are towards certain people.Our Attitude – how we react towards certain people.Our Perception – how we see people and perceive reality.“But more than two decades of research confirms that, in reality, most of us fall woefully short of our inflated self-perception.”īiases affects us and our decision-making processes in a number of different ways: We imagine we’re good decision makers, able to objectively size up a job candidate or a venture deal and reach a fair and rational conclusion that’s in our, and our organisation’s, best interests,” writes Harvard University researcher Mahzarin Banaji in the Harvard Business Review. “Most of us believe that we are ethical and unbiased. It’s just a deep seated, unconscious stereotype that’s been formed in our brains through years of different influences we often had no control over. It’s important to mention, however, that most bias stereotypes do not come from a place of bad intent. Things like how or where we’ve been brought up, how we’ve been socialised, our exposure to other social identities and social groups, who our friends are/were, as well as media influences, all affect how we think and feel about certain types of people. Why? Well, our feelings about gender and the stereotypes we’ve all associated with gender are something we’ve developed throughout our whole lives. For example, one of the strongest biases we have in the workplace is gender bias. One of the most prominent areas of life where bias can play out is the workplace. So, unconscious biases are unconscious feelings we have towards other people – instinctive feelings that play a strong part in influencing our judgements away from being balanced or even-handed.
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And the answers to these are influenced heavily by something researchers refer to as “unconscious bias.”īias is an inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group. Decisions about the content, the questions being asked of you.
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Even as you sit here reading this, you’re making decisions. We make countless decisions every day without even realising it.