#53: It's not about right or Wrong #Breaking the Bias

 

It's not about right or Wrong  #Breaking the Bias

This year's IWD theme is #Breaking the Bias. So let us understand and talk about the same. I always talk about being non-Judgmental and gave the example of Sridevi’s Movie, English-Vinglish. In that movie, we saw how Sridevi broke the Bias and took up the challenge to Break the Bias. But why, in the first instance, people judge? Why do people get biased? And What are these Biases?   

 There has been a constant and conscious effort by corporates, Society to remove, break and Stop the biases. But old habits die hard; we all have to deliberate in what we do in our daily lives. Last year, the Customer documentation team sent a notification restricting the usage of a few words, like whitelist & Blacklist, Master & slave. From ages, we have been using those words. How come we were using these for so long, as my title says, it's not about right or Wrong; it’s all began due to our social infrastructure and the Society we live in.

Why are these biases so essential to be aware of? This is because DAILY we make lots of choices, choose options and make decisions unconsciously based on these biases. So, if we know them, we can become conscious while taking /making such decisions, opinions as, it’s not about right or wrong.

During my research, I found around 30 + biases, but let’s just viz through the few significant biases related to this Women’s day.

1.      Anchoring Bias: Anchoring Bias happens when people set their standards based on the first bit of information they hear. They try to hook their decisions based on that minimal information, like a person smartly dressed Vs. Shabbily dressed, we opine that person dressed will not be good.

2.      Stereotyping:  This most of us know, and it's typical for gender-based Bias, where we stereotype jobs functions based on gender. If I say “making food,” “flying plane,” “ Security guard,” “ stitching,” what just passed your mind is this Bias. To break this, we need conscious processing of thoughts to correct ourselves.

3.      Bandwagon Effect: Do because your peer, the neighbor has done it, everyone else has done it so that it might be right !!! We just go by Society, group of people norm. Again be Aware and conscious.

4.      Attention Bias: We pay attention to some things and simultaneously keep ignoring others based on perception so that the decision could be flawed. Look at all aspects when making decisions.

5.      An implicit bias is an unconscious association, belief, or attitude toward any social group. Due to implicit biases, people may often attribute certain qualities or characteristics to all members of a particular group, a phenomenon known as stereotyping.

6.      Conservatism Bias: It’s a mental process in which people cling to their prior views or forecasts at the expense of acknowledging new information. We just hold onto some old /new belief systems and don’t question or challenge them. It's OK to follow those, but it has to go through our questioning Why?

7.      Halo Effect: The physical attractiveness Stereotype: Attractive people are perceived to be smarter, funnier, and likable than less attractive people.

8.      Salience( Noticeable )  Bias: It’s a cognitive Bias that predisposes individuals to focus on items that are more prominent or emotionally striking and ignore those that are unremarkable, even though this difference is often irrelevant by Objective standards

 

   As said, Awareness is the key. With Awareness, we can have better options /Choices, and with better choices, we get better results. It's not all about right or Wrong !!!