Once you've determined where your biases are lurking, you can start challenging the status quo and unlearn the harmful stereotypes you've accidentally internalized. To help you counteract the effect of unconscious bias, we've identified 13 areas where biases may be negatively impacting the employee experience. This is especially important because our unconscious biases can sometimes manifest themselves as microaggressions that corrode the overall company culture.
Intentions aren’t good enough.”īecause unconscious biases have the greatest influence over us when we’re stressed or under time constraints - two types of pressure we face often at work - it takes an active effort to recognize when our biases are at play and mitigate the impact they have on your coworkers and customers. yet they are vulnerable to habits of mind. Devine explains: “There are a lot of people who are very sincere in their renunciation of prejudice. Jessica Nordell, a writer for the Atlantic, interviewed Patricia Devine, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Prejudice and Intergroup Relations Lab, who evaluates the pervasiveness of biases. Paradoxically, these unconscious biases can contradict viewpoints we believe ourselves to hold. Think of unconscious biases as stereotypes you’ve accidentally internalized - automatic preferences that influence your opinions. Such biases “are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness,” writes UCSF’s Office of Diversity and Outreach. For better or worse, our unconscious biases bolster our emotional responses.