I Might be a Little Biased…
Is a bias always wrong?
If it is, and if we all have unconscious biases, then we all are constantly in a state of wrongness.
Certainly, we might all agree that when a bias leads us to decisions and actions that are discriminatory then it is wrong. However, I would assert that my unconscious biases, have kept me alive dozens of times in my work as a firefighter and while living in Kenya. The reality is that using a heuristic as a shortcut as Kahneman would state, gives us the ability to make rapid decisions based on previous experiences.[1] Driving down the road in Kenya I would know if the police would stand in front of my car and pull me over. I just had a gut feeling and previous history led to this bias. I would know when I walked into a home at midnight for a 911 call when the situation was bad, as my “spidy-senses” would alert me to be hyper-vigilant. All bias is not bad, but I would love to go back to my days as a paramedic and see how my biases might have affected the way in which I gave pain medicine such as morphine.
In this week’s reading of Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, author Agarwal expands on how unconscious biases have permeated into many of the decisions we make and what we do. Using examples from her own life and many studies, this British/Indian behavioral scientist looks at how biases lead to discriminatory behavior.[2] She writes, “So really, the answer is to go to the roots, to understand the processes that shape us, to be aware, to acknowledge that we are all biased to a certain degree, and that we all discriminate.”[3]
Agarwal further argues that any stereotype, whether positive or negative, is a bad thing as “they give out the message that people can purport to know everything about an individual based on their group.”[4] This argument might be a bit of a stretch and as humans we must have ways to group things together, to allow our brains to collect as much data as possible. It is easier for our brains to simply assume that most Brits enjoy football or cricket. Certainly, this is not always going to be accurate, but it is easier for our brains to make assumptions. We do this through using “cognitive shortcuts to create a version of reality that we implicitly want to believe in.”[5]
Sway is a long book, and Agarwal uses almost all four-hundred pages of it to state and support her case, but I was left wondering, “so what do we do?” Another author, Jennifer Eberhardt writes about her national research in her book Biased. Eberhardt highlights how study after study shows that we need to understand our unconscious bias. She states, “People are much better at recognizing faces of their own race than faces of other races.”[6] While highlighting racial biases and stereotypes she also neglects to really answer the question above. “What do we do?” Or to make it more personal, “as leaders how do we manage the bias within ourselves and how do we lead others to understand their biases?”
At the end of her book, Agarwal briefly addresses the question: “Understanding more about unconscious bias is not going to magically fix all the injustices in the world…. [we can] become more attuned to the consequences of externalizing our unconscious biases in the form of behavioral outcomes.”[7] Is an understanding of our biases really going to change things?
I am not so sure. For example, it is hard to discuss politics with someone right now who is not aware of the media bias they ingest. Whether that media is to the right or the left, people know that they are being offered a biased broadcast. They do not care. They ingest the biased reporting because it helps feed their echo chambers and is easier to digest. It is hard work for our brains to work through the nuances of different reporting. It is simply easier to listen to what we like to hear. With so much noise in the world right now, our brains cannot digest all the information needed and so we let our system one take over and go on autopilot.
Yesterday, I took my son to get a neurological test done. They attached little nodes to his head and measured electrical current and voltage while doing simple tasks. I was amazed at how the results could determine all the things we know about him. For example, one result demonstrated that he probably tends to give up easily as his brain gets bogged down with too much information, so it simply gives up. Just this last month I was really frustrated as he quit one more time on something. He is a quitter and I have never been a quitter (hello end of our 2nd year of seminary!) I have been challenging him to press on when things get tough, but his brain simply gives up.
As I sat down to right this blog, I realized that this is a bias I have had against my son. I have looked at him as a quitter and I have attached negative emotions to it. Yet, his brain literally is wired to give up easily and sometimes quitting is beyond his emotional control. It is his fight or flight response and is due to early brain trauma. Now as we begin the hard work of trying to rewire his brain in this regard, I am aware of my bias towards his quitting.
Back to the question stated above. As a leader of our family, I could keep getting upset at him for quitting, or I could understand how his unconscious state is trying to protect himself by quitting and see if I could reduce some of the noise his brain is trying to filter. When we as leaders become aware of our biases and our reactions, we then have a choice to make regarding how we might respond.
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[1] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 1st ed (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2011), 8.
[2] Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2021), 13.
[3] Agarwal, 22.
[4] Agarwal, 138.
[5] Agarwal, 30.
[6] Jennifer Eberhardt, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, Reprint edition (London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 2020), 13.
[7] Agarwal, 408.
About the Author
Adam Cheney
I grew up in California, spent five years living along the beautiful coast of Kenya and now find myself working with refugees in the snow crusted tundra of Minnesota. My wife and I have seven children, four of whom have been adopted. I spend my time drinking lots of coffee, working in my garden, and baking sourdough bread.3 responses to “I Might be a Little Biased…”
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Thanks Adam. How might we, as leaders, distinguish between biases that serve as helpful heuristics versus those that unconsciously perpetuate harm, and what practical steps can we take to train that discernment in ourselves and those we lead?
Adam,
Thanks for the personal note about your bias towards your son, it is something we will always struggle, I have person biases that I am dealing with right now.
You mention media intake. I have an hour drive home and the last couple of months I have found myself listening to a very conservative program on American Family Radio and also listening to NPR. I have enjoyed, reflecting what is being presented, trying to understand various viewpoints, noting the bias, and mentally arguing with several of the people on the radio.
In my social work classes, I teach the importance of cultural humility and the idea that we must always challenge our biases. One person does not define an entire group, nor does an entire group define every member. The person in front of you is the expert of their own life and we need to seek to understand them. Maybe if we all did that to some degree the world would have less bias.
So rather than a negative bias, what is one overly positive bias you have that might need toned down?
Adam, Last night as I went through a green light, I saw them. Two policemen and I knew…the whistle, blocking the road, pointing to the curb. I was clearly sterotyped, but I shocked them when I spoke in Arabic. I was allowed to keep going, but not without my heart pounding in response to biases I have from previous encounters. I, too, wish there were better answers to addressing biases.
Thanks for sharing your journey! I’m curious if there is anything you are hoping to do about your biases towards your son’s brain quitting so easily? Praying for you all as you attempt to help him reroute his neuropathways.