What Is Unconscious Bias? | Definition & Examples

Unconscious biases are instantaneous stereotyped judgments about people that escape our awareness. These biases often conflict with our consciously held values and beliefs.

Unconscious bias example
A tech company conducts a study revealing that resumes with conventionally white names received 50% more callbacks than those with names associated with other races, despite identical qualifications. This leads to the implementation of a blind recruitment process, which significantly increases diversity in the company’s hires.

Unconscious biases can be especially harmful in contexts where power is imbalanced, including business, academic, medical, and legal contexts.

What is unconscious bias?

Unconscious bias involves making automatic assumptions about people’s attributes based on their belonging to a group or category (e.g., race, gender, class, or age). Also called “implicit biases,” they are internal attitudes that people are not consciously aware they hold.

Biases and stereotypes can be harmful whether they are positive or negative. Positive biases (e.g., “Asian students are good at math”) can lead to both unrealistic expectations and favoritism. Negative biases (e.g., “Women don’t excel in science”) often result in exclusion and unfairness.

Unconscious bias is a type of heuristic, or mental shortcut, that allows us to make quick decisions that are often biased or logically flawed. It is rooted in several cognitive biases, or common reasoning patterns that everyone tends to exhibit:

  • Stereotyping: Assigning characteristics to individuals based on their membership in a particular group
  • In-group bias: Favoring members of one’s own group over those in other groups
  • Out-group homogeneity bias: Perceiving members of an out-group as more similar to each other than members of one’s in-group
  • Availability heuristic: Making judgments based on information that is readily available or easily recalled, which can be influenced by stereotypes
  • Confirmation bias: Focusing on information that confirms pre-existing beliefs or categories while ignoring contradictory information

Unconscious bias vs explicit bias

People often believe that if they don’t hold explicit biases, then they are free of biases altogether. However, unconscious biases are extremely prevalent, if not universal, and differ significantly from explicit biases:

  • Explicit bias includes positive or negative attitudes that we are fully aware of and openly express. These attitudes form part of our conscious beliefs and worldviews.
  • Unconscious bias (or “implicit bias”) occurs when we have an inclination for or against a person or group that emerges automatically and unintentionally. These biases operate below our conscious awareness, making them difficult to recognize and control.

Unconscious biases are often held by well-meaning people who are not aware they have any discriminatory thoughts or behaviors. Nevertheless, they can have profound effects both on individual and systemic levels.

Unconscious bias examples

Examples of unconscious bias are common in the classroom, where educators often subtly promote stereotypes or limiting beliefs about students without realizing it. Making conscious efforts to promote fair treatment of students can help mitigate the effects of internal biases.

Unconscious bias example in education
A computer science professor avoids calling on female students based on an unconscious bias that male students are more likely to give correct answers. This subtle behavior limits female students’ participation and decreases their confidence.

Unconscious bias can also have profound impacts in the context of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, where factors such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status can play an unfair role in verdicts and sentencing.

Unconscious bias example in law
A study finds that judges are more likely to impose harsher sentences on Black defendants compared to white defendants who commit equivalent crimes. The court introduces bias awareness programs for judges, and the sentencing gap is reduced.

In medicine, unconscious bias about race and gender can play a role in how seriously different patients’ complaints are taken and the level of care they receive.

Unconscious bias example in medicine
Women are found to be less likely to receive pain medication compared to men with the same conditions. A hospital system introduces mandatory bias training for healthcare providers and sees a marked improvement in pain management equity.

Unconscious bias in the workplace

In the workplace, unconscious biases can have many adverse effects. Addressing unconscious bias through training, standardized procedures, and promoting a culture of proactive inclusivity can mitigate these problems.

  • Hiring practices: Bias can influence recruitment, leading to favoritism towards candidates who share similarities with the hiring manager, such as ethnicity, alma mater, or socioeconomic status.
  • Promotion and pay: Employees may receive different opportunities for promotions and pay increases based on unconscious biases.
  • Workplace diversity: Bias can hinder diversity by creating an environment where certain groups are underrepresented and others are favored.
  • Team dynamics: Bias can affect everyday interactions, leading to exclusion or favoritism. This can in turn impact team cohesion and productivity.
  • Performance reviews: Evaluations can be biased, resulting in unfair assessments and unequal opportunities for advancement.
  • Employee retention: A biased environment can lead to dissatisfaction and higher turnover rates among those who feel undervalued or discriminated against.
Unconscious bias in the workplace example
Research at a multinational firm shows that women receive less constructive feedback and fewer promotions compared to men. After introducing standardized evaluation criteria and training for managers, gender disparity in promotions decreases by 30%.

Types of unconscious bias

Unconscious bias comes in many forms, often related to race, class, gender, and age. Some of the most common types of unconscious bias are explained below.

  • Racial or ethnic bias: Viewing members of a race or ethnicity as inferior or superior to others
    Example: Disciplining Black students more harshly than white students for similar infractions
  • Affinity bias: Favoring individuals similar to oneself
    Example: Favoritism shown towards employees who attended the same university as the manager
  • Gender bias: Assigning roles and assuming skills based on gendered stereotypes
    Example: Assuming a female attorney is part of the administrative staff
  • Age bias: Making unfair assumptions about abilities or interests based on age
    Example: Overlooking older job applicants due to assumptions about their technological skills
  • Socioeconomic bias: Showing preferential treatment based on wealth or status
    Example: Treating a student with an Appalachian accent condescendingly based on perceived socioeconomic status
  • Cultural bias: Judging people through the lens of their cultural heritage instead of as individuals
    Example: Feeling uncomfortable around a new team member due to assumptions about their cultural, religious, or linguistic background
  • Name bias: Forming assumptions based on the perceived race, ethnicity, religion, or gender associated with someone’s name
    Example: Assuming a candidate named Sarah is a better cultural fit than one named N’Jameh without meeting them

How to avoid unconscious bias

Strategies to mitigate unconscious bias involve raising awareness, conducting training, and implementing policies that promote fairness and objectivity. Below are strategies used to equip individuals and organizations to reduce unconscious bias:

  • Implicit Association Test (IAT): Helps individuals identify their implicit biases by measuring the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., race, gender) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad)
  • Diversity training: Educates participants on the existence and impact of unconscious biases, promoting awareness and understanding
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives: Foster a more inclusive environment by promoting diverse perspectives and creating a culture of belonging
  • Blind hiring practices: Reduce bias in recruitment by obscuring identifiable information (e.g., name, picture, disability, or gender) that could trigger unconscious biases
  • Standardized evaluation criteria: Ensure fairness and objectivity in performance evaluations, promotions, and hiring

Frequently asked questions about unconscious bias

What causes unconscious bias?

Unconscious bias is caused by several factors:

  • Socialization: Cultural norms and societal expectations shape our perceptions and behaviors from a young age.
  • Cognitive shortcuts: The brain uses heuristics to quickly process information, leading to snap judgments and stereotypes.
  • Past exposure: Personal experiences and exposure to stereotypes influence our attitudes and assumptions about others.
  • Media influence: Media portrayals can reinforce biases in obvious and subtle ways.
  • Group identity: Affinity for people who share similar characteristics or backgrounds can lead to in-group favoritism.

Cultural influences that promote unconscious bias are often subtle, yet pervasive (e.g., the color black being associated symbolically with evil).

What effects does unconscious bias have in the workplace?

Unconscious bias can have several adverse effects in the workplace:

  • Hiring and promotion: Bias can lead to unfair hiring practices and hinder the promotion of qualified individuals.
  • Employee morale: Perceived unfair treatment can decrease job satisfaction and morale among employees.
  • Workplace diversity: Bias can result in a lack of diversity, limiting different perspectives and ideas.
  • Performance evaluations: Bias can affect the objectivity of performance reviews, leading to inequitable evaluations.
  • Team dynamics: Bias can create divisions within teams, reducing collaboration and productivity.
  • Turnover rates: Unaddressed bias can increase turnover, as employees may leave due to perceived or actual discrimination.
  • Legal risks: Bias can lead to legal issues related to discrimination and harassment claims.
  • Reputation: A workplace perceived as biased can damage an organization’s reputation and ability to attract talent.

These can be mitigated by raising awareness through strategies like implicit bias testing, setting objective criteria for performance reviews, and adopting blind hiring processes.

What is the difference between explicit and unconscious bias?

Both explicit bias and unconscious bias involve prejudiced attitudes that can lead to discriminatory actions and decisions.

They differ in a few essential respects:

  • Explicit bias: Conscious, deliberate, and openly expressed prejudice
  • Unconscious bias: Automatic, involuntary, and not consciously recognized prejudice

When people claim to be unbiased, they typically have explicit biases in mind, unaware that they have unconscious biases.

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Magedah Shabo

Magedah is the author of Rhetoric, Logic, & Argumentation and Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion. She began her career in the educational publishing industry and has over 15 years of experience as a writer and editor. Her books have been used in high school and university classrooms across the US, including courses at Harvard and Johns Hopkins. She has taught ESL from elementary through college levels.