This is a piece I wrote for my Thought class at Susquehanna...
Currently in the news is a lot of information and worry surrounding profiling and racism. Social media is saturated with calls for safe spaces, rants about stereotypes and the disregard for minorities. But how could we, decades after the civil rights movement, still be having this problem? Well, you are biased. You probably are denying it right now, and cannot believe I would excuse you of such a horrid thing, but it is true. Every single person has unconscious bias.
The definition of unconscious bias is an implicit stereotype or idea that you have to a specific person or group of people that unknowingly affects your behavior towards them. These biases can be detrimental as they can lead to negative behavior or actions towards a group or person, even though the behavior is not biased on purpose. People actually have biases for a reason. Psychologist Joseph LeDoux believes unconscious bias is a “danger detector that determines whether or not something or someone is safe before we can even begin to consciously make a determination” (CDO Insights, 2008). Unconscious bias is the beginning of the flight or fight response and is just an instinct to try and help ourselves, even though some unconscious bias hurts us and others.
These unconscious biases are something that everyone has and start developing in childhood. Children start acting on these biases in middle school (Dore, 2014). But, luckily these biases are not a permanent part of someone and they can actually work to remove their biases. By acknowledging and working on the biases a person has, they can be removed, and our minds will stereotype less, even on the unconscious level (Dasgupta, 2013; Dasgupta & Greenwald, 2013). In addition, unconscious bias plays a big role in the criminal justice system as well as the health care system and in education (Kirwan Institute, 2014). Since these industries are so important to the daily life of citizens it is extremely important they remain fair and just.
Unconscious bias may seem farfetched because most people believe someone makes the conscious decision to be racist, stereotype, or hate on a specific group. But, studies have found many people are biased not because they are hateful or malicious, but purely they are just unconsciously programmed to behave a certain way. For example, in 2004, a study was done on unexpected employers who put out the help wanted ads, were given the resumes of fake applicants. These resumes had both “white-sounding” and “African-American” sounding names. The “white-sounding” names were given interviews fifty percent more than the similar resumes, who’s primary difference was the names. The study concluded that the resumes, while similar in content had different responses because of the names of the applicant (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004). In addition, other studies have been done that measured salary differences in equally qualified candidates, who’s main difference was gender (Moss-Racusin et al, 2012). These are just some previously done experiments that found unconscious bias in people, who were never straight out racist or sexist, but just inherently made decisions that suggested an unconscious bias towards a specific group.
To measure implicit bias in people the IAT is used. The IAT is the Implicit Association Test, and uses a lot of speed judgments and quick choices, that show the implicit biases a person has. For example, I took the IAT. One study I participated in that stood out was a gender bias test. In the test, you read a word, which is a subject, ranging from astronomy to music to classics, and then see a face, either male or female, directly after. Then, if you see a guy you press E, and for a girl you press I. The amount of time it takes you to click E or me, shows if you have a bias to believe that one gender is more associated with science or humanities. My results were that I equally associate men and women with science and humanities, but for example, if I had a faster response time of clicking E when I saw a man after astronomy, compared to clicking E for a man after arts, I would have an implicit bias to believe men are better at science. For a long time, men were always encouraged more than women to go into scientific fields of study, but, that is starting to change and more and more women are being encouraged to study STEM and other scientific fields. However, not all of us continue to have this bias, but some people do.
When a bias is discovered, there are various steps that can be taken to fix the bias and destroy it. The first step is figuring out what the bias is which is why taking an implicit bias test is so beneficial. Then, open discussions and understanding what the bias really means are the keys to destroying the bias. Having bias training, taking an implicit bias test, and having presentations on implicit biases are extremely important measures to creating a safe, effective, and stereotype-free workplace (Carnes, 2012).
But why is removing bias from a workplace so important, especially when a bias is a natural occurrence? Well, an unconscious bias could cause someone to choose the wrong CEO, or miss out on the right employee for a job. Unconscious bias swings a person’s decision in a way they do not even realize is happening and do not notice is happening. For example, fifteen percent of the male population is over six feet tall. That is a small minority of people. Yet, in the world of corporate CEOs, a majority of over sixty percent are over six feet tall. And, this pattern continues with admirals, high military positions, and even the president (CDO Insights, 2008). This can damage a company by placing people into positions for incorrect reasons and messing up the company’s dynamic by placing someone underqualified into a position because of an unrelated reason such as the height example.
Unconscious bias is not a comfortable topic. When it comes down to it, people basically have to admit that they do stereotype, and are sexist, or are racist, even though they explicitly are caring individuals who do not hate anyone. But, by taking an implicit bias test, learning about how are unconscious minds work, and having open discussions about the fears and incidents that created such biases, people can change themselves for the better, making the world a better place, for both the minorities and groups targeted by bias and those around them.
