This is the first article dealing with bias. In this one, we shall discuss the basis of bias. In the second one, we deal with better than bias. You can only beat bias if you understand the basis of bias.
Understanding Human Bias
Human beings ease living by grouping and labeling things. In the same way, human beings group and tag life experiences. This grouping of life experiences is done through association, which is either positive or negative. If the experience is positive, then it is a positive association; vice versa.
Some biases are established subconsciously, while others result from deliberate decision-making. For example, if all one’s experiences (actual or perceived) with a particular group of persons are positive, then one will associate positivity with the said group. Similarly, if your experience is negative, then there will be a negative association. This is a form of grouping.
Primal Instinct and Survival
This grouping of positive versus negative is deeply rooted in our primal instinct. It is a survival mechanism. In general, human beings want to avoid negative experiences/associations. By grouping them as such, human beings can more easily avoid negative experiences.
For example, human beings have established that shark bites could be deadly and should thus be avoided. Therefore, in general, most human beings would tend to avoid sharks as they have a negative association. This is the instinctive primitive survival mechanism of human beings kicking in.
Bias as Mental Grouping and Labeling
We all know that not all sharks are deadly and dangerous. One really has to study sharks in depth to know which sharks are dangerous, which ones are aggressive, which ones are more likely to bite human beings, and which ones are harmless. This is a lot of information to digest, and it is impossible for human beings to study everything in life in this amount of granular detail. So, on the one hand, there is a life-threatening incident that could happen, and to avoid it, one has to digest a huge amount of data, which is impractical. Our mind knows this. It thus found a way around it: the mind’s answer to the dichotomy, grouping, and labeling. Bias is mental grouping and labeling.
Through this mental association and grouping by human beings, harmless and non-dangerous sharks are unfortunately tainted with the wrong brush.
Bias in Human Interactions
Turning to bias and human beings: If the experience (actual or perceived, directly or indirectly) of a particular community is that black patrons do not tip, then this community often tends to paint all black persons with this brush. This is because it is impractical for human beings to establish which black persons in the world tip and which ones do not and when they will tip. One’s short-circuit answer is to group a particular portion of the community and label it. This is bias. Moreover, human beings do not have to have proof or sufficient group to make this association or grouping. Even the smallest of incidents/information could give rise to this grouping and labeling. This unfair labeling demonstrates bias toward black persons, in our example.
Overcoming Bias
Grouping and labeling are our mind’s survival mechanism. Through this, it avoids information overload yet does not expose us to mortal danger. Most personal bias tends to be established subconsciously. Unfortunately, bias also spreads through germination. Subconscious bias can only be overcome through deliberate actions. One has to be sensitive to subconscious bias and attempt not to fall victim to our mind’s tendency to group and label.
Conclusion
Subconscious bias is thus an unfortunate by-product of how the mental faculties of human beings process information. Some are well-founded, others untrue and unfair. All humans have biases. Some biases are more intense than others, some more egregious than others, some more pervasive than others.
Thus, for as long as human beings have mental faculties, there shall be bias. The only way out is to deal with it. This will be the subject matter of the
Upwards and Forwards !