Unconscious biases are unconscious distortions of perception or judgement. These are based on prejudices or stereotypical assumptions that people have about certain groups of people. Biases often arise from personal experiences, the social environment or the media and influence our decisions and interactions without us realising it.
The so-called affinity bias or mini-me effect, for example, describes the unconscious tendency to favour people with similar characteristics, traits or experiences - such as studying or researching at the same university (Domsch et al. 2019, p. 151). Another example is confirmation bias, which describes the selective interpretation or perception of information that confirms existing beliefs or hypotheses. Important information that contradicts this can be ignored or devalued (Domsch et al. 2019, p. 61).
Unconscious biases are human and unavoidable. It is therefore particularly important to consciously deal with biases and address them in order to make recruitment and performance assessments of employees and students fairer and more equitable, for example.
1 Domsch, Michel E.; Ladwig, Désirée; Weber, Florian C. (2019): Vorurteile im Arbeitsleben. Unconscious Bias erkennen, vermeiden und abbauen. Berlin, Germany, Heidelberg: Springer Gabler.
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On the Project Implicit website, you can carry out self-tests on unconscious associations (Implicit Association Test IAT).
Options include gender, age, disability, religion, etc.
To the Project Implicit self-test "Implicit Association Test (IAT)"
Project Implicit - a non-profit organisation with a focus on international collaboration between different scientists - was founded in 1998 and deals with "implicit social cognition". It went online in 2011 and is currently led by Dr Bethany Teachman (University of Virginia) and Dr Matt Nock (Harvard University).
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The three-minute video and written briefing on unconscious bias has been adapted by Prof Uta Frith and introduces key concepts and current academic research on unconscious bias to alert members of Royal Society selection and appointment panels to potential bias.
What factors influence the assessment of applicants?
The online tutorial developed by Heidelberg University identifies three areas in which gender bias plays a decisive role: Individual career paths, performance assessment in academia, and academic and interdisciplinary competences. People can find out about the impact of gender bias in these contexts and learn about recommendations for action to avoid gender-related bias effects.
Imperial College London offers a 45-minute e-learning in three sections: Overcoming Unconscious Bias, Unconscious bias in Education, Unconscious Bias in the workplace. The course (videos & short texts) offers a non-judgemental approach to understanding how unconscious bias works in the workplace and how bias can affect individuals and the organisation. The course is freely accessible and offers all employees the opportunity to improve their self-awareness, learn new information, identify actions to promote equal opportunities and address individual and organisational bias.