The anti-diversity bias we all have – and how to fight it


While we all know that diverse teams have been proven to lead to greater business success, there’s no shortage of stories of diversity programs that have failed. One intriguing reason may be due to psychology and the extent to which our bias can works against diversity – even when we’re smack in the middle of a diverse team.

You’ve certainly read more than one article about ‘why diversity programs don’t work’. With so much at stake and mountains of evidence on the benefits to a company’s bottom line, why aren’t organisations making more headway when it comes to recruiting and retaining diverse teams?

The answer lies in the hidden biases at work that influence the way we feel when working in diverse teams – even when we know how good they are.

Speaking to journalist Ezra Klein on his podcast, technology anthropologist and computer scientist Danah Boyd describes how technology has exposed us to more homogenous thinking – ironically, given the opening up of communication – rather than exposing us to more diverse thinking.

In a similar way, exposure to diversity initiatives can have the same effect.

Why?

Simply put, because diverse teams make us uncomfortable.

When working in diverse teams, people believe themselves to perform worse when they are working in more uniform teams, says Boyd. “Not only that, but they also believe themselves to be less happy when they’re in diverse teams.”

She’s referencing the work of social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji who has conducted several studies about how unconscious bias shapes our perceptions of diverse workplaces, despite our awareness of evidence that proves the opposite. One example of this is her Implicit Association Test (I.A.T.), which, in one iteration, tests whether white participants are more likely to associate “good” words with white faces than with black faces (spoiler: they are, and black participants show the reverse results).

Her tests show that many of us hold onto unconscious bias, even when striving to act without prejudice.

Several other studies in recent years support the idea that homogenous teams feel easier and therefore are perceived to be more effective.

Intuitive bias

This intuitive bias, which psychologists call “the fluency heuristic”, describes how we prefer information that is processed more easily, or fluently, because we consider it “to be truer or more beautiful.” It’s why we gain greater appreciation of songs or paintings when they become familiar: because they’re more easily processed.

“As a result,” says Boyd, “when people are optimising for happiness, or when they’re optimising for ‘perceived’ success – they actually go to homogeneity.”

Boyd gives another example of human’s natural reversion to homogeneity by way of an example about the video streaming service Netflix. As the service began to transition from their original business model (which was primarily about sending people DVDs) to offering more streaming, it realised that while we aspire to want to watch a serious, award-winning movie like 12 Years a Slave, “on any given night I get home and I’m exhausted and I look at that DVD and think ‘ugh I can’t do that tonight’.” What people were instead doing was ignoring the DVD and watching the streaming option that “was lighthearted and makes you feel good in the moment.”

It’s this amazing tension, Boyd says, “because our ideal selves often want us to be reading longform, thinking deeply, really engaging with the politics of the day.” But our immediate selves unconsciously self-correct. When life gets busy, we revert to comfort.

Machine learning robots and AI were thought to be the solution to our implicit human bias. However increasingly we are recognising that AI such as machine learning algorithms that interpret speech and text, tend to adapt to reflect biased attitudes. The most well-publicised example of this is Microsoft’s ill-fated learning chatbot “Tay”, which had to be shut down only 16 hours after it launched when, mimicking language it had encountered, it went on a sexist and anti-semitic tirade on Twitter.

So, how do we get past anti-diversity bias?

The lesson here is recognising that the obstacle we face isn’t simply that hiring managers and leaders tasked with building diverse teams don’t care enough about doing so. There are biases that perpetuate even when diverse teams are in place.

Getting a diverse team together may feel like winning the battle; it’s actually the start of the war. While bringing these biases to light doesn’t solve the problem, it enables us to combat them in order to find solutions.

Enjoy full access to the online peer reviewed HR journal – Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, exclusively for AHRI members. Become an AHRI member now.

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julie myers
julie myers
6 years ago

Bias starts at a young age. It is surprising how it can start and is driven by cultural norms that may not obvious causes. My mother ran an English speaking preschool in Italy for expats. There were also a lot of Italian children whose parents wanted them to be exposed to English. When the Nigerian consulate’s children enrolled, the Italian children would not play with them. My mother was surprised as most of these children had never met a dark coloured person before. She had to show the Italian children that the consulate’s children were not dirty. That the colour… Read more »

Jane Oliver
Jane Oliver
6 years ago

Thanks Bianca for the article, and Julie Myers for your comment. In August 2016, AHRI promoted the all-day workshop at its Australian Conference of the NeuroLeadership CEO and Australian, Dr David Rock’s work was thrilling, dynamic and provocative. In identifying more than 140 types of BIAS, Dr Rock also highlighted that being aware of, understanding and knowing about bias does virtually nothing to improve diversity targets and improved decision-making. This is despite the fiscal and other measures outcomes available to workplaces across the world. Yes diverse teams are uncomfortable, technology reinforces homogeneity. So what do we do about it? Based… Read more »

More on HRM

The anti-diversity bias we all have – and how to fight it


While we all know that diverse teams have been proven to lead to greater business success, there’s no shortage of stories of diversity programs that have failed. One intriguing reason may be due to psychology and the extent to which our bias can works against diversity – even when we’re smack in the middle of a diverse team.

You’ve certainly read more than one article about ‘why diversity programs don’t work’. With so much at stake and mountains of evidence on the benefits to a company’s bottom line, why aren’t organisations making more headway when it comes to recruiting and retaining diverse teams?

The answer lies in the hidden biases at work that influence the way we feel when working in diverse teams – even when we know how good they are.

Speaking to journalist Ezra Klein on his podcast, technology anthropologist and computer scientist Danah Boyd describes how technology has exposed us to more homogenous thinking – ironically, given the opening up of communication – rather than exposing us to more diverse thinking.

In a similar way, exposure to diversity initiatives can have the same effect.

Why?

Simply put, because diverse teams make us uncomfortable.

When working in diverse teams, people believe themselves to perform worse when they are working in more uniform teams, says Boyd. “Not only that, but they also believe themselves to be less happy when they’re in diverse teams.”

She’s referencing the work of social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji who has conducted several studies about how unconscious bias shapes our perceptions of diverse workplaces, despite our awareness of evidence that proves the opposite. One example of this is her Implicit Association Test (I.A.T.), which, in one iteration, tests whether white participants are more likely to associate “good” words with white faces than with black faces (spoiler: they are, and black participants show the reverse results).

Her tests show that many of us hold onto unconscious bias, even when striving to act without prejudice.

Several other studies in recent years support the idea that homogenous teams feel easier and therefore are perceived to be more effective.

Intuitive bias

This intuitive bias, which psychologists call “the fluency heuristic”, describes how we prefer information that is processed more easily, or fluently, because we consider it “to be truer or more beautiful.” It’s why we gain greater appreciation of songs or paintings when they become familiar: because they’re more easily processed.

“As a result,” says Boyd, “when people are optimising for happiness, or when they’re optimising for ‘perceived’ success – they actually go to homogeneity.”

Boyd gives another example of human’s natural reversion to homogeneity by way of an example about the video streaming service Netflix. As the service began to transition from their original business model (which was primarily about sending people DVDs) to offering more streaming, it realised that while we aspire to want to watch a serious, award-winning movie like 12 Years a Slave, “on any given night I get home and I’m exhausted and I look at that DVD and think ‘ugh I can’t do that tonight’.” What people were instead doing was ignoring the DVD and watching the streaming option that “was lighthearted and makes you feel good in the moment.”

It’s this amazing tension, Boyd says, “because our ideal selves often want us to be reading longform, thinking deeply, really engaging with the politics of the day.” But our immediate selves unconsciously self-correct. When life gets busy, we revert to comfort.

Machine learning robots and AI were thought to be the solution to our implicit human bias. However increasingly we are recognising that AI such as machine learning algorithms that interpret speech and text, tend to adapt to reflect biased attitudes. The most well-publicised example of this is Microsoft’s ill-fated learning chatbot “Tay”, which had to be shut down only 16 hours after it launched when, mimicking language it had encountered, it went on a sexist and anti-semitic tirade on Twitter.

So, how do we get past anti-diversity bias?

The lesson here is recognising that the obstacle we face isn’t simply that hiring managers and leaders tasked with building diverse teams don’t care enough about doing so. There are biases that perpetuate even when diverse teams are in place.

Getting a diverse team together may feel like winning the battle; it’s actually the start of the war. While bringing these biases to light doesn’t solve the problem, it enables us to combat them in order to find solutions.

Enjoy full access to the online peer reviewed HR journal – Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, exclusively for AHRI members. Become an AHRI member now.

Subscribe to receive comments
Notify me of
guest

2 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
julie myers
julie myers
6 years ago

Bias starts at a young age. It is surprising how it can start and is driven by cultural norms that may not obvious causes. My mother ran an English speaking preschool in Italy for expats. There were also a lot of Italian children whose parents wanted them to be exposed to English. When the Nigerian consulate’s children enrolled, the Italian children would not play with them. My mother was surprised as most of these children had never met a dark coloured person before. She had to show the Italian children that the consulate’s children were not dirty. That the colour… Read more »

Jane Oliver
Jane Oliver
6 years ago

Thanks Bianca for the article, and Julie Myers for your comment. In August 2016, AHRI promoted the all-day workshop at its Australian Conference of the NeuroLeadership CEO and Australian, Dr David Rock’s work was thrilling, dynamic and provocative. In identifying more than 140 types of BIAS, Dr Rock also highlighted that being aware of, understanding and knowing about bias does virtually nothing to improve diversity targets and improved decision-making. This is despite the fiscal and other measures outcomes available to workplaces across the world. Yes diverse teams are uncomfortable, technology reinforces homogeneity. So what do we do about it? Based… Read more »

More on HRM