Are you biased?

by Sue O’Shea Principal Advisor EEO

Many of us have preferences and beliefs that we’re not aware of and discrimination can be the outcome. Researchers at Harvard University have developed a tool called the Implicit Association test (IAT) to explore unconscious bias. It claims to uncover biases that people are unwilling or unable to reveal. The aim of Project Implicit is to “examine thoughts and feelings that exist outside of conscious awareness” or control.

In the December newsletter from Aequus Partners, readers were invited to check out Project Implicit and to discover for themselves what implicit assumptions or unconscious biases they might have.

And so I did. It was gratifying to discover that my unconscious biases (or lack of biases) matched my conscious biases on common grounds of discrimination. I was pleased to receive feedback that I had no unconscious preference for old people or young people, thin or fat, gay or straight. But it was sobering to discover that despite dearly and long held feminist beliefs against gender stereotyping, at an unconscious level I associate women with liberal arts and men with science. How did that happen?

The website https://implicit.harvard.edu contains demonstration tests that allow the visitor to check out their unconscious biases on a variety of issues. Some of the topics have a distinctly North American flavour (Like US presidential candidates) but others have a more universal application. Have a go. You may be surprised.