My unexpected unconscious bias
Awareness trumps ignorance
Conscious inclusion trumps bias
Photo acknowledgement www.pinterest.com.au/pin8233211805113179
I’ve uncovered an unconscious bias that completely surprised me.
I finished reading a great fiction book and decided it would be a good plan to then watch the Netflix version of the book. Now for anyone who has also done this - you also know that the tv version is rarely the same as the journey the words and your imagination take you on; while occasionally an imagined character is spot on (for me this was Kathy Bates in Misery), more often the actor chosen for a role surprises us.
In the series I have just watched I was shocked to realise that while reading the book I had imagined all 14 characters as being white skinned – not at all how the characters were portrayed on the screen. This is unconscious bias! My assumption that all characters would be white may have been simply assuming that the characters would all look like me - a classic case of affinity bias.
But at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter where this unconscious bias came from, what matters is what I now choose to do with this new awareness. I am a little nervous confessing racial bias in a blog that professes the virtues of respect and respectful behaviour for everyone, but if I am going to take this on and hold myself accountable perhaps this is where I start. However, a vulnerable confession is not enough to evoke change. If I am serious about challenging and interrupting this unconscious (now conscious) bias, I need to do more than just admit to it. So, I am bringing curiosity to this – if this was a case of affinity bias and I assumed white characters because I have more exposure to white skinned people - it’s time to counter it.
I am confident that this newly discovered bias has not impacted my work or the lives of others but if this existed what else might I have allowed to slip through the cracks? If I continue to go through life with blinkers on that limit my view to only ‘people like me’ this fault will stay with me – although the fall-out from it will ultimately negatively impact others.
The first thing I did once I realised this bias was to log-on to www.implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ and re-do the Harvard Implicit Association Tests (IAT), I do these every 12-18 months and the time was just about up to jump on again for a re-fresh. The next thing I did was start writing this blog, because for me once I have spoken/written about a topic it becomes more real and cannot be ignored. From here it is up to me to increase my exposure to people of other racial backgrounds – yes, I already meet many people from diverse backgrounds in my training sessions but that’s just at a superficial level. If my bias is indeed based on affinity and availability bias, then I need to look outside of ‘people like me’ and ensure my availability pool is inclusive of ALL people.
I am also going to practice mindfulness; I think I’m really going to enjoy consciously assigning character images to my fictional characters from now on.
Awareness trumps ignorance
Conscious inclusion trumps bias
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