Unconscious bias 🦢
🧠 Psych - 68 / 100
Hello.
Today, we will be talking about the Unconscious bias 🦢.
What is it?
The bias which has social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness.
Example -
Black Americans suffer from police harassment and violence at a much higher rate than white people, people do try to defend the police by claiming that black people are more violent and likely to break the law than whites. They thus attribute police harassment to the internal characteristics of black people (implying that it is deserved), not to the external context of police behavior. [1]
Where does it occur?
This is also known as the Implicit Bias and it’s not the part of Cognitive biases.
Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.
Why do I need to know?
Our unconscious mind uses embedded, unconscious beliefs formed from our cultural environment and personal experiences to make immediate decisions about everything around us.
The problem is that these shortcuts result in wrong decisions much of the time – especially when rational, logical thinking is required. We all have unconscious bias, and it influences our decisions without us even realizing it. [2]
Takeaways: -
Unconscious Bias can “blind” you and lead you to making decisions in hindsight which may not be right.
To combat this, always be a kid when you approach something new. Be curious & take it from there instead of making presumptions.
References & Studies: -
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/intentional-insights/202007/what-is-unconscious-bias-and-how-you-can-defeat-it
https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/academy/blog/2019/09/unconscious-bias-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-it-in-the-workplace/
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