3 Keys For Defeating Unconscious Bias: Watch, Think, Act

Watch Your Thoughts and Assumptions

Initially, this instruction to Watch your thoughts might seem odd—a little like spying on your internal self. In fact, it really is pretty straightforward.

We’ve all Watched our thoughts before. Have you ever been asked to say the first thing that comes to mind when you hear a word like “cat,” “house,” or “bacon”? You likely responded with “dog,” “home,” and “eggs.”

When you notice the word that comes to mind, you are Watching your thoughts. That’s all there is to it. We do it all the time. It’s just that when it comes to something more substantial than a parlor game (like becoming aware of a bias), we lose sight of how simple and familiar the process is.

I recall the very instant that I became aware of my ability to Watch my biases. It involved unearthing a bias that until that moment was hiding deep in my unconscious.

This revelation struck as I was returning to my hotel room after doing a presentation at a resort in central California. The room lay just off a balcony that overlooked the hotel’s cocktail lounge. As I crossed the balcony, I looked down to see a large group of tourists entering the lounge and dividing themselves among the tiny round tables. I also noticed that the members of the group were quite elderly—most appeared to be in their eighties.

It was just as I saw the group that my previously unconscious bias came hurtling into my brain. It did so in the form of this thought: Gee, I’m glad I’m not down there with them; those conversations must be boring.

To this day, I remember my shock. I had no idea—none—that this bias (“Elderly people are boring”) was lurking in my unconscious. The bias was certainly not good news. There was, however, a silver lining to that dismal revelation. Namely, I woke up to the fact that it really is possible to spot our biases if only we pay attention and Watch for them.

Paying attention, though, needs to become a habit, a knee-jerk reaction. We can’t count on the brain to naturally notice our responses in the midst of all the stimulation that is perpetually coming at us. To form that habit, we need repetition and practice. Here is a short activity to get you started.

Below you will find a list of words. (Stop! Don’t look at the list until you are ready to do the exercise.) As you read the list, make a mental note of the first thought—the first assumption—that comes into your mind. OK, go ahead:

• A person in a wheelchair
• An immigrant from Mexico
• A Muslim
• A single mother with three children
• A native of New York City

How you responded to each group isn’t the point just now. What matters is that you practiced noticing your first thought.

But how can you know whether that first assumption really is an inflexible bias? Maybe, instead, it is merely what I call a “working generality.” Working generalities are different from biases in that they have a very flimsy hold on our thoughts; we give them up easily in the face of contradictory evidence. They are really along the lines of a “first best guess” and are subject to modification without much effort.

In order to tell the difference between a best guess and a bias, subject that first response to what I call the “Bias ID Test.” Here are the questions to ask:

1. When I had the first thought, did I have the word “all” in my head? Was there the implication that the characteristic that came to mind applied to every member of the group? If not, it was probably just a flexible working generality.
2. Would I feel the same way about the meaning of this incident if the person were of a different group?” For example, let’s say you are observing a new female executive give a presentation. At one point, she begins to pound the table, raise her voice, and pace the platform. Your first thought is this: Gee, she sure is getting hysterical.

   Now, ask yourself, “If the speaker were a man, would I still have thought him hysterical or, instead, would I have assumed he was merely enthusiastic?” If the answer is “enthusiastic,” you probably have a bias on your hands.

3. What do I do when I discover the first assumption was wrong? If you just let it go and change your mind, you are probably fine. If, on the other hand, you become upset and do everything you can to resist the evidence in front of your eyes by saying something like, “This person is an exception to the rule,” you are almost certainly in bias territory.

The next step in this bias awareness process is to take the practice of Watching your first assumption out into the world. I’ll wager that before too long, you’ll discover that you have formed a new and very productive habit. Go ahead and give it a try.

Antibias Activity: What Comes to Mind

For the next two weeks, notice and write down in the space below the first thought that comes to mind when you encounter someone from a different group. Once you identify that first assumption, subject it to the Bias ID Test found in this chapter.