It happens because your brain sees similar people as approachable and relatable, and wants to spend time around those with whom it will be easy to get on with.Īffinity bias explains why we tend to quickly become friends with people with whom we share characteristics or interests. What are the Different Types of Unconscious Bias? Affinity BiasĪffinity bias is the tendency to appreciate or prefer people who are similar to yourself. A key part of being a successful and competent leader or manager is acknowledging your own unconscious bias and taking steps to prevent it from affecting your decisions and the people in your workplace. In the workplace, unconscious bias can have a huge effect on who is hired, promoted or chosen for certain roles in team situations. This can affect the way that we treat other people both consciously and unconsciously, which has a severe impact on groups who are often the victims of unconscious bias. Even if the bias you have is positive, it can still have a negative effect. Whilst the automatic functions of our brain are incredibly useful in many cases, in the case of unconscious bias we tend to form opinions that have no truthful basis. These opinions can be influenced by cultural attitudes, emotional reactions, memories of social situations or stereotypes that exist in the media and beyond. Our brains work by using previous experiences and information to predict and form opinions about new experiences.
Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, is the phenomenon of forming an opinion or assumption about a person, place or situation without being consciously aware of it. This is particularly relevant to those who are in leadership or management positions, as removing bias from the workplace is a huge step towards establishing equality. In recent years there has been a prominent push towards tackling the effects of implicit bias and ensuring that everyone is aware of their own privileges and how their unconscious attitudes shape how they see the world. From warming to people with whom you have things in common, to more serious assumptions based on someone’s gender or race, unconscious bias can influence our lives and the lives of the people around us. Whether we admit to it or not, bias affects many of the decisions we make on a day-to-day basis.