Unconscious Bias
What is this unconscious bias?
Everyday we make millions of decisions without even being aware of them.
These “unconscious decisions” help us to process the huge amount of information we receive all the time.
These decisions are influenced by our background, culture, environment and personal experiences. They can lead us to make snap decisions based on gender and social characteristics – rather than reasoned analysis.
This can mean that we support individuals just because they look and sound like us – and ignore or disadvantage those who are different, without even realising that we're doing this.
Before you make a decision – STOP AND THINK about the REASONING behind your decision.
Want to know more?
To learn more about unconscious bias, watch this 3 minute Royal Society video:
Understanding unconscious bias
The Royal Society ask all their selection and appointment panel members to be aware of unconscious bias to ensure they act fairly in selecting successful candidates.
Or watch these videos to learn more about how unconscious bias affects women at work:
Test yourself
If you’d like to test whether your ability to make decisions is affected by unconscious bias, follow this link to an online course developed by researchers at Harvard University (10 minutes):
If you’d like to learn more about these Implicit Association Tests and the consequences of unconscious bias, watch this 14 minute YouTube video by Prof. Jerry Kang:
Still want more? Take the University of Glasgow's Unconscious bias online training course (60-75 minutes). HR recommend this to those of you who serve on interview and decision making committees.