Bias Breakdown
What is bias?
A bias is a prejudice, tendency or inclination, toward or against someone or something.
Our brains use bias shortcuts to make decisions about people and situations based on our experiences of the world. It's part of our 'fast thinking' process which is metaphorical, intuitive, associative and impressionistic.
So when we meet someone for the first time, we make instant judgements about them. For example, in the first five minutes, we decide whether we would consider hiring someone or not. And, if this person's background or experience resonates with our own, hiring someone like us feels like a natural choice.
These cognitive shortcuts can result in prejudgments that lead to rash decisions or discriminatory practices, with harmful real-world outcomes.
Bias examples
There are many, many different examples of bias. The Cognitive Bias Codex lists 188 biases, grouped into four categories: Too much information, Not enough meaning, What should we remember, Need to act fast. You can explore the Cognitive Bias Codex here.
Because there are so many, we’ve selected a few to share here:
Affinity Bias
Affinity bias is the unconscious tendency to get along with others who are like us. It is easy to socialise and spend time with others who are not different. It requires more effort to bridge differences when diversity is present.
Attribution Bias
Attribution Bias is the different (and often incorrect) judgements and assumptions we use to explain our behaviour versus others behaviour. People constantly make attributions—about why people behave in certain ways
For example, when we do something well, we usually consider it to be part of our personality. If we do something badly, we attribute it to situational factors out of our control. Such as when we arrive safely at a destination, it's because we're a great driver. If we're in a car accident, it's because other erratic drivers.
When someone else does something well, we might consider them to be lucky. If they do something badly, we attribute it to their intrinsic nature. Such as when a driver cuts someone off, the person who has been cut off is often more likely to attribute blame to the reckless driver's inherent personality traits (e.g., "That driver is rude and incompetent") rather than situational circumstances (e.g., "That driver may have been late to work and was not paying attention").
Confirmation Bias
A confirmation bias is a type cognitive bias that involves favouring information that confirms your previously existing beliefs or biases. This can manifest in several ways, such as your manager telling you they liked a job candidate before you interview them.
Contrast Bias
When we compare one object (or person) to another - rather than comparing them to a universal standard - we are using contrast bias. This can happen in several ways in the workplace, including performance reviews and interviews:
First Impression Bias
In psychology, a first impression is the event when one person first encounters another person and forms a mental image of that person. Aesthetic things we all do in the first few seconds
Halo/Horns Bias
The Halo/Horns bias is when one leans into their first impression and ignores other contradictory characteristics.
Halo bias is when we meet someone, and the first impression is very positive, we then tend to ignore the negative characteristics in the person and concentrate only on the positive characteristics, seeing the person in the halo of the positive first impression. The horn is if our first impression about a person is negative, we tend to ignore his positive characteristics and concentrate only on the negative ones.
Perception Bias
We have a tendency to make simplistic and stereotypical assumptions about certain groups in the workplace (and outside of it). This can inhibit our ability to promote fairly. By forming simplistic stereotypes and assumptions about certain groups of people, it can be very difficult to make an objective judgement about members of diverse groups.
Performance Support Bias
Performance-Support bias is a circumstance when performance results are compared, while but the inputs for performance are unequal.
For example, a study found that the gender pay gap among stockbrokers was determined by performance-support bias. Managers assigned sales opportunities with higher revenue to their male staff, women didn’t have the same opportunity to make similar sales and their performance, when compared to the men, reflected this. When given equivalent accounts, women and men produced equivalent sales.
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