In business, bias is the four-letter word that is truly offensive.  By definition, bias implies prejudice that is in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.  It is just plain bad business to demonstrate bias in company policies or practices, whether it involves customers or employees.  And, thankfully, most companies in the U.S. actively discourage bias. 

However, there is conscious bias (the intentional kind) and unconscious bias (the unintentional kind of which most people are unaware).  Unconscious bias is an unrecognized mental process tied to cognitive heuristics and how the human brain processes information.  So basically, anyone with a brain has biases.  It is part of how the human brain works.  The brain uses bias as a way to keep us safe and as a tool to process the onslaught of information we process at any given time.  

Consider that the human brain is bombarded with 11 million bits of information at any moment, but the conscious brain can only handle about 50 bits of information at a time.  The discrepancy between 50 bits and 11 million bits is why unconscious bias exists.  Information overload.  To manage the tidal wave of everyday activities, the brain develops mental shortcuts, a/k/a biases. Advances in neuroscience, social psychology, and biology has identified over 200 cognitive unconscious biases the human brain employs.

Unconscious biases may be ubiquitous, universal and necessary.  But there are two problems with these unconscious biases:  they are hidden and they tend to be partial and unfair.

1. Hidden biases –– As American journalist, writer, and science correspondent Shankar Vedantam – whose reporting focuses on human behavior and the social science, and is best known for his radio program and podcast titled “The Hidden Brain” — explained it, “Unconscious bias influences our lives in exactly the same manner as an undercurrent that took me out so far when I went swimming one day.  When undercurrents aid us, we are invariably unconscious of them.  We never credit the undercurrent for carrying us so swiftly.  We credit ourselves, our talents, our skills.  I was completely sure that it was my swimming ability that was carrying me out so swiftly that day.  It did not matter that I knew in my heart that I was a very average swimmer.  It did not matter that I knew that I should have worn a life jacket and flippers.  On the way out, the idea of humility never occurred to me.  It was only at the moment I turned back — when I had to go against the current — that I even realized the current existed.”  So unconscious bias guides behaviors and decisions subtly and invisibly without one noticing. 
   
2. Unfair, partial biases – Unconscious biases are also not impartial.  They are slanted because these calculations are made quickly, without deep analysis or input.   What’s worse is that they easily translate into conscious biases affecting how we interact with each other.  And, they are often the seeds that create institutional biases.  

Biases that Affect Hiring

In the workplace, these biases sway a great many policies including hiring practices.   Here are just a few of the ones that impact hiring unintentionally and for the worse.  We will discuss more about them and how they affect hiring starting next week.

1. Confirmation Bias – is the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.  This bias often piggybacks onto other unconscious biases.
   
2. Affect Heuristics Bias – is a type of mental shortcut in which decisions are heavily influenced by the person’s current emotions.  The person’s affect — a psychological term for emotional response — plays a critical role in the choices and decisions made.
   
3. Expectation Anchor Bias – is when a person allows himself to anchor onto a certain piece of information about a candidate and uses it to help make a decision.  
4. Halo Effect Bias – is a type of unconscious cognitive bias whereby a person’s perception of someone is positively influenced by his opinion(s) of that person’s other related traits.
5. Horn Effect Bias – is a type of unconscious cognitive bias that happens when a person makes a snap judgment about someone on the basis of one negative trait. 
6. Overconfidence Bias – is a tendency to hold a false and misleading assessment of a person’s own skills, intellect, or talent; an egotistical belief that the person is better than he actually is.  This person is super-confident and, ironically, there is another bias that favors overconfident people.  That is because we generally assume others have the self-knowledge to know how confident they should be, and we also assume they will truthfully communicate this confidence (known as the truth bias), unless extenuating circumstances suggest otherwise. So whenever we encounter highly confident people, we tend to find it compelling, and expect it to be justified.
7. Similarity Attraction Bias or Affinity Bias – is the widespread tendency of people to be attracted to others who are similar to themselves in important respects.  This is not referring to physical attraction but, rather, liking for or wanting to be around the person. This connection could be based on similarity of personality, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or a variety of other factors. 
8. Illusory Correlation Bias – occurs when the observer “infers” a relationship that “isn’t there” in the information presented or was there but to a substantially different degree.  When this happens, bias in the way information was processed produces a systematic misperception of that relationship.
9. Beauty Bias – isone of the most prominent biases and has to do with attractiveness.  The beauty bias confers favorable treatment on individuals deemed more attractive, regardless of whether this happens consciously or unconsciously.  This appearance-based bias includes bias against those who are overweight, oddly-dressed, or don’t fit a society’s dominant aesthetic criteria.  Physically attractive individuals are more likely to be interviewed for jobs and hired, more likely to advance rapidly in their careers through frequent promotions, and earn higher wages than unattractive individuals. 
10. Attribution Bias – This bias arises when assessing others.  When assessing ourselves, we tend to think our achievements are direct results of our merit and personality while our failings are the result of external factors, including other people that adversely affected us and prevented us from doing our best.  But when assessing others, we think the opposite is true. We are more likely to consider the achievements of others a result of luck or chance while their failings a result of their personality or behavior.
11. Conformity Bias – is the tendency people have to behave like those around them rather than using their own personal judgment.  One might call it the monkey-see-monkey-do bias.  People seem to be more comfortable mimicking others, even regarding ethical matters.
12. Intuition Bias – is a widespread and strong tendency for people to rely on their intuitions and to follow them, even when they should not. This exaggerated tendency lies at the root of a variety of psychological phenomena and has a strong impact in decision-making. 
13. Contrast Effect / Judgement Bias – is an unconscious bias that happens when two things are judged in comparison to one another, instead of being assessed individually.  A person’s perception is altered once he starts to compare things to one another.  The tendency is to judge them relative to each other rather than on their own merits.
14. Proximity Bias – is the brain’s tendency to favor people and ideas which are familiar over those which are unfamiliar. This can lead to remote workers, or anyone not working standard hours at HQ, being included less and recognized less.  This has a negative impact on both workers themselves and on their company which fails to get full value from its employees.

Each of these biases plays a huge role in hiring practices, whether a company wants to acknowledge it or not.  These unconscious biases exist and play a role in who a company hires and how well that person does once hired.  Consider that these biases may account for the huge turnover rate that many companies face.  And thus, these are biases that no company can afford to experience unchecked.

Next week, we’ll dive into Confirmation Bias and look at how this affects hiring practices to the detriment of both the employer and employees.  Stay tuned.

Quote of the Week

“I think unconscious bias is one of the hardest things to get at.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg

© 2022, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.