Like It or not you’re Biased!

We are all biased.

We can say that in a given context we are capable of looking at that situation objectively. However, that is nothing more than naive thinking on our parts. Mental processes that we are not even aware of can greatly impact our choices and decisions. It all begins moments after we are born. At that time, we are looking to imprint with someone that will take care of us. Typically, that is our mother. Imprinting with our mother makes us more willing to look at her face compared with another. Moreover, we will then make the choice to look at female faces longer than males and we look away faster from faces that are not the same skin colour as our mother’s.

These hidden social biases continue to develop as we mature and experience the world. They become quiet, yet deep-seated habits. Not convinced? Try answering this riddle.

A father and son are in a horrible car crash that kills the dad. The son is rushed to the hospital; just as he’s about to go under the knife, the surgeon says, “I can’t operate — that boy is my son!” Explain.

If you astutely answered that the surgeon was the boy’s mother than good on you. If you were left confounded by the riddle then take comfort — and disappointment — in the fact that you along with many others are in the same boat in making the following association: surgeon = male. Congratulations, you may have a gender bias that you did not even know you had! Put another way, you and I and everyone else simply wants to favour the familiar.

Hidden social biases as a topic is discussed in a book written by Harvard social psychologist Dr. Mahzarin Banaji and University of Washington psychology professor Dr. Anthony Greenwald called Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People.

Probe your own unconscious biases by taking the Implicit Association Test (IAT) that was introduced to the scientific world back in 1998 and of which Dr. Greenwald was the lead contributor. The goal of taking such a test is to help aid us in aligning behaviour with intention. I am sure such intentions are the least we would expect not only from an educator but from a good person in general.

And this probably represents the best we can do to be objective. First, acknowledge the fact that whether you like it or not, whether you mean to be or not, you are biased. Then do what you can to stay aware of and on top of your blind spots. Align action with intention.

Besides unconscious social biases, we are also afflicted by unconscious cognitive biases. These can arise when we choose to take shortcuts in our thinking and make decisions quickly, by gut instinct. More on that next time.