Part 2 – Understand how unconscious biases are created

To understand how unconscious biases are created let us analyse an example. Let us imagine there is a manager recruiting for his team. He/she has two candidates to choose from – let us call them Adam and Sara. Both candidates have similar level of knowledge and experience. However, Adam does not have really good reference file. It turns out that he actually had some discipline problems in his last work and the information is clearly stated in his reference file. At the same time Sara has perfect references. The manager interviews both candidates and he/she is happy with the results. Nevertheless, it is now time to make the final decision.  At the end the manager decides to employ Adam and reject Sara’s application. The manager has every right to choose the most suitable candidate for the team, and this is his/ her sincere intention. However, while making the final decision, the manager remembers that he/she once had a really nice neighbour whose name was Adam. They actually were close friends. Since both candidates have the same level of experience the manager chooses Adam because the name brings relatively good feelings and positive collocations. He/ she decides then to neglect the reference file and somehow trusts that the positive feeling and hopes for the candidate would somehow turn up to be a reality. This scenario is actually another unconscious bias – Name Bias. Why does the manager choose Adam then? Is the manager really not aware of the bias?

It turns out that our unconscious biases are most often based on personal experiences. These can include background, cultural environment and personal experiences^[6]. In consequence, an unconscious bias just like the one described above “is deeply ingrained into our thinking and emotions and is outside of our control” (Australian National University).

The human brain tends to categorize people; it likes convenience and simplification, easier ordering of information or quick decision making – it’s a biological feature of the brain that allows us to “think in shortcuts” and it works all the time, even if we don’t want it or just aren’t aware of it. It is the reason why each of us usually inadvertently makes assumptions and categorizes others based on given characteristics. We are able to place a person in a particular category within a moment, which is caused by various factors such as our own experiences, stories we have heard, rumours or cultural conditioning. This qualification is then the basis on which we decide how we will behave towards a particular person or group.

Implicit biases often seem to go against what we claim to profess, which is why they are so dangerous to good relationships with others. It is important to keep in mind that we ourselves have a say in how we behave toward those who differ from us, which is quite often the case with migrants or people with a migration background. Every person is different and categorizing is only a result of the way a person thinks about the differences they share with another person. Bias is also born from the fact that the human mind subconsciously seeks out what is close and familiar to it, so in a split second it can reject what it considers dangerous simply because it is different or new. This process occurs unconsciously, but it determines the choices and further steps and behaviour of a person. We cannot control this process, but understanding this innate mechanism allows us to make more conscious decisions, and thus avoid rejecting others because of ingrained biases.^{[7] [8]}

“Having unconscious bias does not make us bad people; it is part of being human”^[9]