What Are Unconscious Biases?

Unconscious biases, they’re like these kind of hidden frameworks in our minds, constructed early in life and evolving as we grow. While they lack neat organisation like more conscious thoughts, these predispositions can have a big impact on how someone reacts to those around them – from family members to strangers encountered during everyday interactions. As a result, unconscious biases shape an individual’s behaviour due to their strong emotional properties that come up naturally throughout life experiences.

People often have deep-rooted preconceptions that can lead to harmful biases, such as confirmation and affirmation bias. These prejudices manifest through individuals fixating on the negative characteristics of those who align with their existing views.

Here are 16 ways unconscious bias shows up in the workplace.

Discovering the 16 hidden dangers of unconscious bias in the workplace and figuring out how to counter them is an important step for any effective recruiting process. By recognising these potential pitfalls, we can make sure that all job seekers have an equal opportunity when applying, as well as building a diverse workforce with engaged employees who stay motivated at work.

Affinity bias is the tendency to favor people and things that are similar to us.

Our connections to one another can be strengthened by shared experiences, which often leads us unconsciously favoring those who are similar to ourselves. Affinity bias exists at many levels of our lives and can play a meaningful role in how we interact with the world around us.

Hiring decisions can often inadvertently be influenced by affinity bias when looking for the perfect “culture fit” in a business.

Being mindful that familiarity can lead to bias is key when evaluating potential candidates. Analysing each applicant’s skill set and qualifications, separating those qualities from their level of “culture fit”. Consider how they could contribute unique attributes that would add value to your organisation as a whole.

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, or recall information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

Confirmation bias leads us to selectively seek out information that validates our existing beliefs, creating a distorted view of reality and an unreliable basis for reasoning.

When recruiting, confirmation bias may lead to potential employers forming negative views of job candidates before they even meet. This can cause the hiring team to inappropriately center their questions around details that have nothing to do with qualifications or skills – like name, hometown, and college background – further reinforcing initial judgments.

To make sure every candidate gets a fair chance to shine and demonstrate their talents, teams must stick to consistent interviewing techniques. This helps us avoid any bias that may arise from asking unrelated queries.

Attribution bias is the tendency to ascribe blame or praise to someone or something.

Attribution bias can lead us to form strong opinions about a person based on our past experiences with them; this type of pre-conceived notion may shape how we interact and perceive others.

Before dismissing a job candidate for arriving late to an interview, consider exploring what made them arrive behind schedule. As there may have been unforeseen circumstances at play or nerves that affected their performance during the assessment process – it’s important to give applicants the opportunity of fully recounting their story before drawing any conclusions.

Conformity bias is the tendency to conform to what others believe or do.

Conformity bias is a widespread phenomenon whereby individuals bend their own beliefs and values to appease the people around them, even if it means compromising who they are. The social pressure to fit in can be overwhelming – but standing your ground will always bring rewards in the long run.

In order to make the best decisions in candidate selection, it is important for each team member not just to hear others’ opinions but also to have their own opinion heard. Allowing individual voices a chance to be heard during interviews and reviews can help combat conformity bias and ensure we hire the most suitable candidates.

To ensure an impartial view of a candidate, each interviewer should provide their individual feedback right away. When the hiring team gets together to review these various impressions, conformity bias can be avoided and all perspectives taken into account for making sounder decisions.

The Halo Effect is a psychological phenomenon.

Learning a person’s impressive attributes can be transformational – the halo effect demonstrates how an individual is instantaneously elevated in someone else’s esteem.

Fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace begins with the hiring process. When onboarding new members, it’s essential to look beyond what their CVs state—focusing on more than just companies they’ve worked for or universities attended can help you find better-suited candidates that may be an asset to your team.

Be sure to evaluate job applicants holistically and objectively, rather than allowing the initial impressions of one attribute – such as attractiveness or name recognition – to override others.

THE HORNS EFFECT

It’s human nature to make negative assumptions when presented with unfavourable facts about someone else – the so-called “horns effect” perpetuates an often undeserved view of them.

The horns effect is the polar opposite of the halo effect, wherein a candidate’s qualifications can be overlooked as judgment forms around one minor detail.

Before settling on a hiring decision for any candidate, be sure to delve deep into your motivations and explore the source of negative feelings you may have. Additionally, invite other interviewers’ perspectives; sometimes hunch-based preconceptions can lead us astray from recognising qualified candidates.

The Contrast Effect refers to the difference that stands out.

By examining two or more items side-by-side, we are able to observe the contrast effect: an assessment process that evaluates each item and reveals one as potentially superior over another.

Recruiting processes can easily fall victim to comparison bias, where top talent in one interview may make the next candidate seem insufficient by contrast. Employers must be mindful of this potential pitfall and strive for consistent evaluation across all applicants.

To ensure equitable assessments, establish a comprehensive process for evaluating applicants and subsequent performance reviews. This allows you to make fair comparisons of like-for-like qualities rather than apples to oranges metrics.

Gender discrimination

Gender bias is a dangerous form of discrimination that has been present in our society far too long, preferring the interests and values of one gender over another. This inequality must be addressed to ensure any action taken is based on merit rather than prejudiced opinion.

As an employer, blind screenings are essential in assessing candidates on skill and merit rather than gender indication. Set diversity-based hiring goals to ensure equity is at the forefront of the recruitment process while leaving any biases out when comparing applicants.

Age discrimination.

Workplace age discrimination puts mature individuals in an unfair disadvantage, leaving them subject to unjust judgment and treatment simply because of their life experience.

Despite the invaluable experience and expertise that older workers bring to the table, ageism is unfortunately still a problem in many workplaces. 58 percent of employees have experienced discrimination beginning at 50 years old – which can make it difficult for them to find jobs or advance their careers as discriminatory practices often favor younger hires over more seasoned professionals.

Equip your team members with the knowledge needed to tackle ageism and create a workplace that is more equitable for all generations. By having an anti-age bias policy in place, plus setting hiring goals focused on diversity, businesses can take steps towards ending this insidious problem.

Prejudice based on a person’s name.

Though many don’t realise it, there is a tendency to associate Anglo-origin names with success. This phenomenon of bias for certain types of names has come to be known as ‘name bias’.

Unconscious bias is a prevalent issue in the hiring process, with studies illustrating its reach. White names have been found to receive more calls for interviews than those of African Australians and Asian last names are 28% less likely to get callbacks compared to their Anglo counterparts. Despite efforts made towards greater diversity and inclusion, this unconscious discrimination remains pervasive throughout many organisations today.

A great way to ensure hiring decisions are based solely on merit is by taking the extra step of anonymizing applicants – stripping away any personal information and leaving just their qualifications to be assessed!

Prejudice Based on Physical Attractiveness

In today’s society, it can be all too easy to fall under the spell of beauty bias – a belief that individuals who are considered attractive have greater success, competency, and qualifications.

Despite laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, appearance-based bias is still a pervasive issue in the working world. Studies show that those considered more attractive tend to earn higher salaries than their less conventionally ‘beautiful’ counterparts – and may also be at a disadvantage for certain roles due to negative stereotypes of beautiful individuals having attributes such as being overly personable or excessively successful.

Prejudice based on one’s height.

Height bias is a pervasive prejudice that affects people of every size – both those who rise above or dip below the average. Heightism, as it’s known, can have long-term consequences for individuals and their overall satisfaction with life.

To reduce the risk of bias based on physical characteristics, consider conducting blind, phone, or video interviews when evaluating potential candidates. Examining and recognising your own prejudices is a great step towards creating an equitable environment for selection processes.

Anchor bias refers to a phenomenon of favoritism towards the first result encountered when conducting a search.

Anchor bias can cause us to fall into a pattern of relying on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions, regardless if it is accurate or not. Being aware and avoiding such traps with critical thinking skills puts professionals in control of their decision-making process.

When examining applicants, recruiters may receive a range of salary requests. If the primary applicant asks for significantly less than the others, this can lead to an expectation anchor bias; further candidates’ request appears more costly in comparison.

To ensure the best decision is made for your organisation, it’s important to consider all candidate qualities rather than simply focusing on one factor. If you find yourself regularly considering only a single element when evaluating applicants, discount this from your evaluation and assess other attributes instead.

Nonverbal prejudice.

Nonverbal bias takes communication to a whole new level, using subtle signals like body language and facial expressions to form judgments or opinions. It shows us that sometimes words are not required for messages to be effectively conveyed.

During an interview, our body language can sometimes make a greater impression than what we actually say. However, it is important to remember that one’s posture or demeanor should not be taken as absolute truth; this could result in overlooking otherwise qualified candidates and compromising the success of your team.

As individuals, we have a diverse array of personalities and characteristics; embracing these differences can help us to better understand one another by considering both verbal and non-verbal cues.

Authority bias is the tendency to believe what an authority figure suggests.

Authority figures such as experts and leaders are often assumed to have reliable knowledge and opinions, which can lead us to accept their ideas at an unquestioning level – something known as authority bias.

The corporate world often invites authority bias, as pre-established power structures lead us to obey instead of asking questions and finding solutions.

To ensure success, organisations should strive to cultivate an environment of unbiased leadership – one that encourages and openly embraces different viewpoints. By inviting feedback on their decision-making processes from all staff members, companies can create a culture where perspectives are encouraged and authority bias is prevented.

Overconfidence bias is the tendency to overestimate one’s ability or knowledge.

Overestimating our own capabilities is a tendency ingrained in us all, but the overconfidence bias can lead to costly misjudgments if we don’t temper it with reason.

Overconfidence bias can be a real organisational roadblock, creating strife and preventing growth. When left unchecked it may lead to stagnation as those with this mindset become complacent in believing that nothing needs improvement.