The Perception Of Unconscious Bias - 1677 Words

Everyone is aware of their particular preferences or being in favor, or against particular individuals, foods, color, etc this would be considered to be having a bias. Kahn (2015) defines bias, as a preference for or leaning towards something based on one’s values, beliefs, or experiences (Kahn, 2015). On the other hand, unconscious bias is out of our conscious awareness. Bellack (2015), defines unconscious bias as, â€Å"operating as hidden blind spots, ones that are difficult to see and of which we are unaware yet influence our beliefs about and behavior towards others (Bellack, 2015, p. S63). Therefore, whether everyone wants to accept it or not, everyone has biases and unconscious biases, the question is, how do individuals become aware of†¦show more content†¦S64). Second, perhaps those close to us can bring things into our conscious perspective of what we may in fact not see. As Raymond (2013) mentions, â€Å"it is easier to detect bias in others than ourselv es, so we need to help each other without judgment† (Raymond, 2013, p. 34). Biases can be manifested in many ways and therefore, influence the decisions made in our day to day activities that involve work, home, and personal life. In the workplace, it may start with something as simple as in the organizational level, during the hiring and interviewing process, there may be a preference for a male in his mid 30’s to late 40’s for a supervisory position. Therefore, if the interviewing team enter the interview with this bias or mentality, then it is useless to interview women, who are under their 30’s as they do not meet the criteria. What is often not considered, is that individuals that are of the opposite sex or age group can contribute in their own manner to the workforce. Raymond (2013) mentions, â€Å"70% of men and women across 34 countries view science as more male than female† (Raymond, 2013, p. 33). Often times, this leads for individuals to be underestimated. Jennifer Raymond is an Associate Professor of neurobiology at St anford and is surprised via the IAT that she has a bias against women in science (Raymond, 2013, p. 33). This bias can be inferential that women may be fragile and not strong enough to take on such position, and can be something ingrained from a young