Imagine you are conducting a job interview. Two candidates. Identical qualifications. One person has studied at a renowned university, the other at a less well-known university. Without consciously realizing it, you tend to attribute more competence to the first person, even though this alone says nothing about their actual performance. This is the halo effect in action - one of many unconscious bias examples that distort our decisions.
Whether recruiting, team management or performance evaluations: Unconscious biases constantly influence our day-to-day work. We all have them because our brains work with preconceived thought patterns. They help us to grasp the world quickly, but they also lead us to evaluate people unfairly or overlook them. If we don't recognize these biases, they make it difficult to build diverse and inclusive teams.
Why is it important to know these unconscious bias examples?
Cognitive biases in the brain are premature judgments and perceptual distortions about individuals or groups. Everyone has them: On the one hand, because they are cognitive structures that help us to prevent sensory overload and organize the world. On the other hand, because we have learned many stereotypical images through our socialization. They ensure that we can unintentionally discriminate against people - even if you are an open-minded person with good intentions.
If, for example, the in-group bias leads to managers unconsciously always promoting people who are similar to them, talent potential remains untapped. Confirmation bias can lead to a manager considering a person to be "not competent enough" - and then specifically seeking confirmation for this assessment instead of evaluating objectively. This results in homogeneous teams in which creativity and innovation suffer because similar perspectives always dominate.
Unconscious bias can also be costly when it comes to recruiting: A company that allows itself to be dazzled by prestigious employer brands or certain universities (halo effect) risks overlooking great talent or causing high turnover costs due to poor decisions. To be successful in the long term, people in companies must learn to recognize their unconscious biases and take countermeasures. So let's take a look at five common examples of unconscious bias in the workplace - and what you can do to make fairer and more objective decisions.
To make more objective and fairer decisions, these five examples of unconscious bias are important for you:
Halo effect
The halo effect ("halo" effect) means that one fact or characteristic outshines everything else. If you perceive a person as beautiful, you may also perceive them as more competent than a person who is overweight, for example. The standard-beautiful person therefore has to make less effort to appear competent.
The same applies when evaluating CVs: If the candidate has worked for a brand that is known and positively associated with you (e.g. Google), then you will evaluate the person's competencies more positively overall. Although the mere fact that a person has worked at Google does not mean anything. Google "gives" the person applying a halo, even though he or she has not yet demonstrated the relevant skills, for example.
To do: Structure selection processes in a clear and standardized way to make more objective decisions. In recruiting, structured interviews are essential to minimize the influence of the halo effect. Read more about inclusive hiring here. We are happy to support you.
Horns effect
The other side of the halo effect is the Horns effect. It means that a characteristic or attribution of a person that is marked as negative outshines all others: for example, if a person's CV contains an employer that is negatively associated with you.
Or if you don't even work with older people on your team because of a negative stereotypical thought like "older people don't have digital literacy." These perceptual biases can cause you to simply overlook certain information, skills, and talents - similar to confirmation bias.
To do: Question your own assessments. What do you base your assessments on? Reflect on whether you are prematurely devaluing a person based on this prejudice.
Confirmation Bias
With the confirmation bias, we unconsciously confirm our previous assumptions. For example, when a new intern has forgotten to complete an important task. And you unconsciously keep looking for evidence yourself that they are simply not such a good fit.
To do: Search specifically for counterexamples. Talk to colleagues who have a different perspective to check your judgment.
Groupthink Bias
Humans are social beings. It is essential for our survival to belong to groups. For the sake of harmony, unconscious groupthink can often creep in. For example, when bosses initially present their ideas in meetings, we tend to unconsciously try to confirm them.
To do: Managers should deliberately express their opinion later in order to give others space for their own thoughts. Alternatively, one person in the team can specifically take on the role of a critical counterpart.
In-group or affinity bias
In-group bias is a bias in favor of one's own group. According to neuroscientific studies, we unconsciously feel more empathy for this group. An in-group can be a small group, such as a dance group, but also a social group affiliation, such as being white-German, a cis woman or non-disabled. People who are ascribed to the out-group experience disadvantages as a result. The in-group bias is fed by historical continuities and hierarchies, e.g. white supremacy .
To do: Reflect on where you belong to the social in-group and what advantages this brings you. Actively approach people who are different from you and consciously expand your professional and social network.
"Us" versus "the Others
These categorizations and hierarchies form the basis for our social identities. This also goes hand in hand with a division into an "us" and "the others". And depending on which group has the social, political and economic power, this has fatal consequences for "the others".
Social identity and groups
The social psychologist Henri Tajfel once demonstrated the very rapid categorization into an "us" and "the others" in an experiment called the minimal group procedure. In this experiment, unknown people are divided into groups on the basis of minimal information: for example, their preference for a particular painting or a coin toss. Within just a few minutes, the test subjects tended to view their own group as superior to the other group and to gain advantages. His theories from the 1970/80s have since been confirmed in numerous other studies.
Of course, this also has consequences for team dynamics in companies. Because even on the job, you are probably unconsciously most likely to surround yourself with people who are like yourself. The examples of unconscious bias described above clearly show this. And if your company is already very homogeneous and majority-socialised, it becomes much more difficult for marginalised groups to feel included.
You can clearly sense the in-group bias in multilingual teams with different first languages. During breaks, people often prefer to meet with colleagues who share the same first language, e.g. German speakers who prefer to meet with other German speakers.
Now that you know some Unconscious Bias examples - these are your to dos:
- Reflect on your identity: where do you possibly belong to the large social ingroups - and where not? Privilege checks can help. The tests are largely based on the research of US scientist and feminist Peggy Mcintosh. In our training courses, we carefully address the topic of privilege.
- Look for other contacts: Approach people who you perceive as different - outside your team, your department, your company and regardless of your first language. Personal contact provides a more individualized perception of the groups you perceive as different. This can also mean diversifying your social media feed and subscribing to accounts that give you a new perspective.
- Objectify your structures: Companies should establish bias-free HR processes, for example through standardized assessment criteria. We support you in making your processes fairer. Feel free to ask us.
- Respect safer spaces: Networks for marginalized groups are essential for their empowerment. Before you take part in events, check whether they are open to everyone. For example, if your company has an employee network for Black people, as a white person or non-Black person of color you should ask in advance whether the event is open to you. A similar example: events organized by LGBTQI+ networks. They are initially only open to these people from the LGBTQI+ community. Unless the event is announced as "open to heteros/straight allies".
Knowing examples of unconscious bias will certainly help you.
But generally speaking, D&I work means scrutinizing your decisions and thoughts more closely. Ensure bias-free structures in the company, e.g. in HR processes or performance assessments. No one is free from preconceptions. Only if we work on the processes at the same time will we really create a bias-free environment. Unconscious bias training alone is not enough, but it is a good first step. We are happy to support you in examining where your processes could be influenced by prejudices.
