Unconscious bias. So prejudiced yet so pervasive in our society. If you don’t know what this unconscious bias is, it is made of subconscious attitudes that affect the way we view individuals or an entire group of people. Normally, this feeds into stereotypes of different cultures or looks, and can result in unintended discrimination against others. Especially when an employer or other similar person lets their unconscious prejudice influence decisions on who to offer a job to, it can mean that race or sex could be the deciding factor among candidates who may be similar in every other aspect. From an article on BBC, hiring managers may assume that male candidates are more competent, or that an Asian woman could not make a good leader, for example.
This graph from a study by the Yale Child Study Center shows that preschool teachers will keep an eye on black students, especially boys, most often when there is troublesome behavior in the classroom. The race of the teacher also matters. Black teachers will hold black students to a higher standard since they may believe that they will need to be more prepared for a harsh world, according to researchers. On the other hand, white educators may be acting on stereotypes.
Some Types of Unconscious Bias (Especially in the workforce)
- Affinity bias – hiring teams often choose candidates who share the same interests and background as the team, rather than diversifying.
- Confirmation bias – drawing conclusions about a person based on personal beliefs and prejudices
- Conformity bias – similar to peer pressure. A tendency for people to want to act similar to how others act.
- The Halo Effect – after hearing one thing impressive about someone, a person may be more inclined to choose them without evaluating other attributes that would be a more rounded approach.
- The Horns Effect – after learning a negative thing about someone, it may make a person have an overall bad view of them even if it was a very small quirk.
- Gender, age, name, height, and beauty biases – mostly self-explanatory. Employers may select for a certain characteristic and judge people negatively if it is not what they are looking for.
Unconscious bias does not necessarily have to be in the workforce. When seeing someone who may be of a different race or gender as oneself, it could make you judge or stereotype them, even if they are simply a stranger you saw walking down the street. Students in school are not free from this effect either. From shows to influence from parents, many things could effect who a student makes friends with or avoids in the hallways. It will take a lot of effort to eliminate this unconscious bias from our lives, since it is deeply ingrained in us. After all, biases infiltrate every aspect of our lives.
I know this post is about cognitive biases, but my major takeaway is “how the heck are preschoolers getting suspended or even expelled??” Like jeez, aren’t these kids less than 10? Why are we removing them from receiving undoubtedly necessary education? If a child is repeatedly causing physical harm to others, or doing extremely inappropriate behavior, then I understand the desire to remove them from the situation, but in that case, shouldn’t we try and help the aggressive 6-year-old instead of ostracizing them? To me, it is just crazy that we have an issue of preschooler expulsion, they’re literally toddlers.
The graphic about tracking eyes really shocked me; teachers are four times as likely to observe black boys than black or white girls. It was also interesting that black teachers hold black students to a higher standard- although their intentions sound good, this predisposition probably does more harm than good by further singling out students of color.
The thing about unconscious bias, is that it is different depending on who you are talking about. I found the comment on how the race of the teacher affects the cause of the bias, but not the end result. It is quite peculiar and really interesting.