We often explore Inherent Bias as part of our Bridging the Gap programme.

It’s interesting to note how people react to the idea that they might hold an inherent bias towards a particular majority group, or against a minority group. Especially the idea that they might be biased against their own minority group (for example, women scientists being biased against women in senior science roles).

There’s often a pretty strong reaction – usually rejection of the test (the test is rigged or doesn’t make sense), denial of their result and / or offering of their credentials to demonstrate they don’t have it.

This discomfort often manifests as a lively discussion around inherent bias with a passion that wouldn’t be seen if we were discussing the idea of people having a preference for cards or darts.

It is probably something to do with a fairly deeply held value of fairness. It can be very uncomfortable to accept that you might have a bias that is inherently unfair.

The thing is, it would be virtually impossible to grow up in a ‘x-dominated’ society without having a bias towards x as the norm. For x read elements of gender, race, colour, religion, age, etc.
 

Making and ASS of U and ME

 
We naturally and sensibly make assumptions every day of our lives – if we didn’t we’d have to constantly check facts and interpretations in such a way that we would never make any progress or decisions.

Our assumptions are based on our knowledge and experience. If our experience is x-dominated then our assumptions are likely to be too. That’s normal.

Unfortunately, different types of inherent bias can lead to assumptions that aren’t in the best interests of an individual (for example, what they might be capable of), the company (who is best for a role) or society in general (what our laws should be).
 

Recognising Inherent Bias

 
Recognising bias is the first step towards addressing it.

If you don’t recognise you have a bias you can’t compensate for it.

For those that want to explore different types of inherent bias I suggest the IATs provided by Harvard. It can be uncomfortable! But it is an eye opener.

For me, almost as interesting as the result is what happens inside our heads as we do the test and then read the results.

  • Are we deliberately trying to skew the results away from the expected bias?
  • Are we trying to justify our result or even deny it?
  • If we are in the minority that don’t hold the expected bias, are we congratulating ourselves on how good we are for not holding it or not having it as strongly as the majority?

Why would we do any of that?
 

Countering Inherent Bias

 
Altering our response to inherent bias is not impossible. Like most brain re-training, it requires practice.

A study again by Harvard, called Project Implicit, looked at how best to overcome an inherent bias.

The results showed that practical, explicit exercises that directly involved participants were more effective than case studies.

So imagining the circumstances under which you would appoint a black person or a woman to the post you are advertising is more effective than reading a case study about someone else who did that.

Just doing it and experiencing the result is likely to be even more powerful!
 
 
 

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