Understanding Bias

Social media and digital delivery of media! These things have solved and also caused plenty of problems. Our timelines are a bottomless pit you can scroll endlessly down. As a result our attention spans have gotten significantly shorter. What you choose to watch and pay attention to is very important now. Due to this change in culture, it can come with a lot of bias. The variety of biases we hold can determine what you choose to pay attention to. What is bias?

Bias is a tendency, inclination, or prejudice toward or against something or someone. Some biases are positive and helpful—like choosing to only eat foods that are considered healthy, or staying away from someone who has knowingly caused harm. But biases are often based on stereotypes, rather than actual knowledge of an individual or circumstance. Now, this does not make the bias you hold a bad one. The thing about bias is that it comes in my forms. This can be as small as choosing chocolate milk over strawberry milk. Paid reviews and sponsorship are often brought up in the Youtube space. Simply because money can sway a persons opinion on a product or service.

Even people who are not deliberately prejudicial may have what’s known as implicit biases, or biases formed from lifelong societal input that escape conscious detection. Cognitive biases, which are  repeated patterns of thinking that lead to inaccurate or unreasonable conclusions. An example of this would be something known as confirmation bias. This refers to the brain’s tendency to search for and focus on information that supports what someone already believes, while ignoring facts that go against those beliefs, despite their relevance. This something that is common with people who may pre-order video games or movie tickets. It may help people make quicker decisions, but those decisions aren’t always accurate.

The most common examples of unfair bias are based on stereotypes about another person's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexuality. This can have harmful real-world outcomes, and can also increase susceptibility to “stereotype threat,” the phenomenon in which people behave in certain ways to avoid confirming a common stereotype about their own particular group. A common form of explicit bias. Attitudes and beliefs we have about a person or group on a conscious level. Much of the time, these biases and their expression arise as the direct result of a perceived threat. When people feel threatened, they are more likely to draw group boundaries to distinguish themselves from others.

Which also can also lead to implicit bias. The attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection. They are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, deeply ingrained within our beliefs, universal, and have the ability to affect our behavior. There are many types of unconscious bias - and, without realizing it, you're probably guilty of them already.

1. Affinity bias - the tendency to 'warm up' to people who are like yourself.

Affinity bias play out when you select somebody to work with you will tend to prefer someone like yourself. Rather it be a family member or just a best friend. Corporate hiring practices are set up to find people who are a “good fit” for the organization, people who will bring value to the team. These requirements cause us to look for candidates who are professionally skilled, and are also people we can relate to. Perhaps ultimately impacting the diversity and inclusion you were consciously hoping to achieve.

2. Halo effect - the tendency to think that everything about a person is good simply because you like them.

This is a type of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person influences how we feel and think about his or her character."He is nice!" impacts your evaluations of that person's specific traits. When you perceive a person as attractive, successful, and often likable, we also tend to see them as intelligent, kind, and funny. This is the halo effect in action.

3. Group think - the tendency to try too hard to fit into an existing culture, mimicking others and holding back thoughts or opinions, resulting in the loss of identity and lost creativity and innovation.

When a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions that are spurred by the urge to conform or the discouragement of dissent. This problematic or premature consensus may be fueled by a particular agenda or simply because group members value harmony and coherence above rational thinking. This is an example of a group think. In a group think situation, group members may refrain from expressing doubts and judgments or disagreeing with the consensus.

Paying attention to helpful biases while keeping negative, prejudicial, or accidental biases in check requires a delicate balance between self-protection and empathy for others.