{"id":840,"date":"2015-11-02T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=840"},"modified":"2015-11-02T09:00:03","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:00:03","slug":"bias-and-the-brain-what-we-can-learn-from-neuroscience-about-undoing-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/blog-posts\/bias-and-the-brain-what-we-can-learn-from-neuroscience-about-undoing-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Bias and the Brain: What We Can Learn from Neuroscience about Undoing Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tEarlier in my career I worked in an organization for a senior leader who was a white male. The CFO of the organization, also a white male, reported to my boss, and the second-in-command to the CFO was an African American woman named Allison. My peers and I could see that the CFO was a slacker. He never got back to people or produced the deliverables he promised, and he was rarely in the office. Allison did his work and her own, and everyone knew to go to Allison if they wanted results. And her work was impeccable. I was relieved when, after about five years, the CFO resigned. I was shocked, though, to discover that my boss was not even considering Allison as the CFO\u2019s replacement. When I asked why not, he explained that he did not feel Allison had enough experience to handle the CFO role. He could not see that Allison had been operating as the de facto CFO for years.\nThis story is an example of the impact that bias can have. A recent article<\/a> by Heidi Grant Halvorson and David Rock defines biases, which we all have, as nonconscious drivers that influence how people see the world. The authors explain that biases \u201cexert their influence outside of conscious awareness.\u201d My boss could not see Allison\u2019s talents and contributions, even though they were as plain as day to my peers and me. Let\u2019s take a look at what types of biases may have been operating to make it difficult for the boss to really see Allison and what neuroscience can tell us about how to overcome biases in organizations.\nScientists have identified five common biases:\n\n\n

    \n\t\n\n
  1. Similarity Biases<\/em>\u2014The two most prevalent forms of similarity bias are ingroup and outgroup preferences. In other words, \u201cpeople like me are better than others.\u201d This bias results in being more likely to hire and promote people we perceive as similar. Allison\u2019s boss may not have been able to \u201csee her\u201d because she was different from him in at least two visible ways\u2014race and gender\u2014making it doubly hard for her to be visible to him.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n
  2. Expedience Biases<\/em>\u2014This form of bias results in making decisions based on what information is immediately available in the brain and what \u201cfeels right,\u201d rather than taking the time to research or check out other perceptions.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n
  3. Experience Biases<\/em>\u2014People with this form of bias tend to assume that what they see is all there is to see. It is possible that Allison’s boss had never known or seen a CFO who was an African American woman and couldn\u2019t imagine that this was a possibility.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n
  4. Distance Biases<\/em>\u2014This form of bias often manifests as a tendency toward short-term thinking.<\/li>\n\n\n\t\n\n
  5. Safety Biases<\/em>\u2014Our brains have learned to avoid loss. Consequently, we reflexively choose what feels safe. She probably did not feel like a safe choice to him.<\/li>\n\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n\n

    How to Mitigate and Manage Bias<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\nThe authors, Halverson and Rock, note that \u201cthere is very little evidence that educating people about biases does anything to reduce their influence.\u201d They note that US companies spend $200 million to $300 million a year on diversity and sensitivity training programs. Because \u201chuman biases occur outside of conscious awareness,\u201d training programs do not change individual ability to be aware of bias.\nWhat does work? For individuals, when you notice feeling distant or uncomfortable with people who seem different than you, look for commonalities with them. Discover the goals, values, experiences, and preferences that you share. The authors explain, \u201cthis causes the brain to recategorize these individuals\u201d and recognize them as being affiliated with you.\nFor organizations, the authors suggest that it is important \u201cto cultivate an organization-wide culture in which people continually remind one another that the brain\u2019s default setting\u201d may be stuck in a belief that requires reflection and examination to see what else could be true. Allison\u2019s boss was challenged by a large number of people in the organization about his belief that Allison was not experienced enough to be the CFO. It took a lot of pressure from a lot of people, but he finally relented and promoted her. He was very surprised to discover how capable she was\u2014but he had been blinded by his biases. And we all are blinded by biases. We all need help from friends and colleagues who will challenge us to ask, \u201cwhat else could be true?\u201d\n \nImage courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,143,192,193,207,490,508,533],"class_list":["post-840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-bias","tag-distance-biases","tag-expedience-biases","tag-experience-biases","tag-feminine-values","tag-relationships","tag-safety-biases","tag-similarity-biases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}