Unconscious Bias:
Definition, Examples, Comparison & Related Terms

Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias) is an automatic, unintentional preference or stereotype that individuals hold about certain groups of people that they aren't consciously aware of having. These biases operate outside of a person's awareness and can influence understanding, actions, decisions, and behavior when interacting with others, often with unintended detrimental consequences.

Unconscious biases are learned stereotypes formed outside of conscious awareness through exposure to personal experiences, cultural influences, education systems, media, and societal stereotypes beginning in early childhood. Unlike conscious or explicit bias where individuals are very clear about their feelings and attitudes, unconscious biases are deeply engrained, universal, and can be in direct contradiction to a person's espoused beliefs and values.

These biases can be favorable or unfavorable attitudes and extend beyond ethnicity and race to include age, sexual orientation, gender identity, weight, gender, physical abilities, religion, and many other characteristics. Researchers have found that unconscious bias is more widespread in society than conscious bias and may become more pronounced when individuals are under pressure or working on multiple tasks.

Related terms: implicit bias, explicit bias, conscious bias, systematic bias

Conscious bias (also called explicit bias) involves deliberate attitudes or beliefs about certain groups where the individual is very clear about their feelings and attitudes, and related behaviors are conducted with intent. This type of bias is processed neurologically at a conscious level as declarative, semantic memory, and in words. Conscious bias in its extreme is characterized by overt negative behavior that can be expressed through physical and verbal harassment or through more subtle means such as exclusion.

In contrast, unconscious bias operates outside of the person's awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person's espoused beliefs and values. It automatically seeps into a person's affect or behavior and is outside of the full awareness of that person. Because it's harder to detect, unconscious bias can lead to unintentional behaviors that negatively affect others. The key distinction is that conscious bias is deliberate and intentional, while unconscious bias occurs without awareness or intent.

There are 18 common types of unconscious bias that affect candidates and employees in workplace settings:

• Affinity bias: The tendency to connect with others who share similar interests, experiences and backgrounds
• Ageism: The tendency to have negative feelings about another person based on their age
• Anchor bias: When someone holds onto an initial, singular piece of information to make decisions
• Attribution bias: Making sense of or judging a person's behavior based on prior observations and interactions
• Authority bias: When an idea or opinion is given more attention because it was provided by an authority figure
• Beauty bias: Believing that attractive people are more successful, competent and qualified
• Confirmation bias: Drawing conclusions based on personal desires, beliefs and prejudices rather than unbiased merit
• Conformity bias: Acting similar to people around you regardless of personal beliefs
• Contrast effect: Comparing things that exaggerate the performance of one in contrast to the other
• Gender bias: The tendency to prefer one gender over another gender
• Halo effect: Placing another person on a pedestal after learning something impressive about them
• Height bias: The tendency to judge a person who is significantly short or tall
• Horn effect: Viewing another person negatively after learning something unpleasant about them
• Name bias: Preferring names of Anglo origin compared to those belonging to people of color
• Nonverbal bias: Analyzing nonverbal communication attributes like body language and letting it affect decisions
• Overconfidence bias: Being more confident in capabilities than warranted
• Status quo bias: A preference for things to remain the way they are and resistance to change
• Illusory correlation: Thinking there's a connection between two variables when there's no evidence to back up this claim

Unconscious bias matters because it influences the way people build relationships with colleagues and patients, and impacts decision-making daily and at important moments in people's careers such as recruitment, development, promotion and dismissal. Most people make decisions that disadvantage others, even when they don't mean to.

The consequences of unaddressed unconscious bias include poor employee retention as employees feel uncomfortable and unmotivated in their roles, reduced diversity as bias causes teams to think the same and stifles critical thinking, and poor company reputation that drives away customers and potential hires. Research shows that 60% of respondents noted some form of bias in the workplace, and leadership in many fields remains disproportionately white, meaning people from the Global Majority are more likely to be disadvantaged by unconscious bias.

Notable health disparities exist among minority groups which may partly be attributable to unconscious biases. In education, unconscious bias appears in multiple facets of medical education, training, and promotion with negative effects on diversity and equity efforts. The impact extends beyond individual careers to affect organizational innovation, productivity, and overall workplace culture.

The most difficult thing about unconscious bias is that people usually don't have insight into their own biases, making it very hard to stop something they're not aware of from happening. However, individuals can increase their awareness by asking themselves reflective questions when making decisions:

• What am I thinking?
• Why am I thinking it?
• Is there a past experience that is impacting my current decisions?
• Am I making an assumption about someone?
• Am I assessing the facts, or am I relying on gut instinct?

The first step to addressing unconscious biases is to acknowledge that everyone has them. It is important to reflect on actions and decisions and think about what motivated them, considering whether those actions benefited a particular group of people in an unfair way. While it's important to confront the fact that you may have bias, you should embrace the opportunity to be more reflective and be open to learning about how to make fairer decisions rather than giving yourself a hard time.

Taking time to talk openly and learn more about unconscious bias and its tangible impact is a good place to start. Being more aware of what unconscious bias is and examining possible personal biases is crucial to advancing equity and fairness in judgements and actions, empowering people to make mindful adjustments where needed and take more ownership when mistakes harm others.

People rely on past information to quickly decide who to trust, and this information accumulates through personal experiences, societal stereotypes, cultural practices and other contexts. Biases and prejudices often develop in early childhood as children begin to make assumptions based on personal experiences. They may also receive stereotypes from parents, education systems and other cultural institutions, as well as from popular forms of media such as books, movies and television.

When people develop biases of any nature, they process information received from the environment around them. A poor experience will result in negative connotations when reflecting on it in the future, which could create an unconscious bias to challenge later. These preferences are developed through exposure to stereotypes and misinformation informed by upbringing and life experiences, residing deep in the subconscious.

These biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social or political correctness. The act of showing bias is normal human behavior, but people are not born with these biases , they are learned throughout life and shaped by experiences.

Organizations can implement 5 key strategies to reduce and prevent unconscious bias:

1. Unconscious bias training: Conduct education programs to teach employees how factors like language can alienate candidates and coworkers, setting expectations for how leaders should enforce diverse, equitable and inclusive practices
2. Diversity hiring goals: Seek out diverse sources of talent by opening positions to remote candidates and targeting historically Black colleges and universities to broaden the candidate pool
3. Talent assessments and candidate scorecards: Develop objective interview and hiring methods that create a common structure for grading all candidates, ensuring interviews stay on course and don't dive too deep into candidates' personal backgrounds
4. Different interview techniques and formats: Diversify interview tactics such as phone interviews to prevent beauty bias, and use a common set of pre-interview questions to create a more standard, less biased interview setup
5. Diverse and inclusive culture: Collaborate with HR to develop guidelines and policies that serve as the foundation for a diverse and inclusive culture as a permanent part of the company's identity

Good hiring practices are essential, including embedding practices like removing names and other identifying information to eliminate many biases and ensure first consideration of applications is made purely based on merit. Standardizing questions and bringing a diverse panel to the interview process helps ensure all candidates receive the same experience.

Although there is little evidence supporting the effectiveness of current bias and diversity training programming alone, standardization and blinding may be helpful, evidence-based methods to reduce implicit bias when combined with other organizational changes.

Working together helps people overcome unconscious biases they may hold by exposing them to new experiences. If someone has never worked with a colleague of a certain background before, working together can teach both parties new things. Teams need to go above and beyond by not being afraid to challenge one another and drive the team to new heights.

Working to create a psychologically safe workplace means that everyone can know that their contributions matter. Constructive feedback is necessary for growth , when behaviors and decisions are challenged, it causes people to re-assess and learn from their decisions. Peer or group mentoring can be a great way to introduce the practice of giving feedback, allowing people to feel comfortable with colleagues when discussing any number of topics.

Diverse teams often display a range of perspectives, leading to the exchange of more ideas and creative solutions that give a business a competitive edge. A 2023 McKinsey report found that companies with the most women representation and ethnic diversity were 39 percent more likely to outperform companies with the least women representation and ethnic diversity.

If you think you might be or have been disadvantaged by unconscious bias, you may be unsure about what happened and worried about speaking up. Speaking to a colleague, manager or HR about your concerns is a good place to start. You may wish to create a diary of incidents so that you have a record of what's happening and how it's impacting you.

You could also see if there is a staff network or support group you can attend to get advice on how to move forward. If you think someone else might have been on the receiving end of bias, you can either speak to them directly or to your line manager. It is best to let the alleged victim decide whether or not they want to take action.

If you are unsure about whether or not what you have observed or witnessed was biased, talking to your manager confidentially first is usually the best course of action. Asking a colleague or superior to address unconscious bias can be an uncomfortable conversation that some may not want to have, but by not bringing the bias to the attention of the individual showing it, no change can be made.

Unconscious bias is often compared to 3 related concepts:

Unconscious Bias vs. Implicit Bias

While the terms unconscious bias and implicit bias are often used interchangeably, there is a distinct difference. Unconscious bias is the default setting of your brain that you have little control over until you are aware of it. While it might lead to poor actions and flaws, you can train yourself to recognize these shortcomings and make better decisions. Implicit bias includes unconscious bias but extends beyond it into the active decisions people make, which is more harmful as the bias has a greater chance of impacting others and becoming institutionalized if not addressed.

Unconscious Bias vs. Conscious Bias

Conscious bias (explicit bias) is when the individual is very clear about their feelings and attitudes, and related behaviors are conducted with intent. This type of bias is processed neurologically at a conscious level as declarative, semantic memory. Unconscious bias operates outside of the person's awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person's espoused beliefs and values, automatically seeping into behavior outside of full awareness. The key distinction is intentionality and awareness.

Unconscious Bias vs. Bias Incident

A bias incident is conduct, speech, or expression motivated, in whole or in part, by bias or prejudice. The difference between a bias incident and hate crime is that a hate crime is a criminal act committed against property or a person where the offender's bias motivates them to take action against one or more of a victim's identities. Bias incidents can fall within two areas: explicit or conscious and implicit or unconscious. Unconscious bias is the underlying attitude, while a bias incident is the manifestation of that bias in specific behavior.