The Presence of Hidden Bias in Our Life and Ways to Avoid It

When looking into hidden bias and how it effects the criminal justice system, one must first know what hidden bias is. There are two forms of bias, hidden and explicit. Hidden bias or implicit bias as it is also known as, is when individuals have attitudes, thoughts and feelings towards others and/or associates them with a stereotype without conscious knowledge per the Perception Institute (Perception Institute, n.d.). Hidden bias is an automatic preference that can be either negative or positive for one group over another, based purely through subconscious. While explicit bias is where individuals know of their thoughts, attitudes, and perceptions towards others and are aware of their actions towards those groups or individuals. Explicit bias can be both positive and negative as well (Community Relations Service, 2015).

For this paper, hidden bias will be the main focus. Hidden bias is ultimately laying the groundwork for discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes. Researchers have stated that hidden bias are “mental residue” within individual’s cognitive minds. And even though individuals believe that everyone is equal and are treated as such, it is has been researched and shown that hidden bias can influence our behavior, actions and perceptions (Tolerance.org).

Effects of Hidden Bias

As mentioned above, hidden bias are “mental residue”, laying in wait in individuals sub consciousness influencing our thoughts, perceptions and attitudes. Hidden bias affects all aspects of an individual’s behavior without the individual consciously aware of it. According to an article by Tolerance.org titled Hidden/Unconscious Bias: A Primer, numerous studies have shown a link between hidden bias and how it affects an individual’s actions. This link is shown prominently when there is stress, relaxation, competition or some form of distraction placed upon an individual (Tolerance.org).

Hidden bias affects the criminal justice through various ways. Various ways such as police interaction, court proceedings, and in employment. In police interaction, hidden bias can endanger officers if they are not careful. A great example would be a gender bias, an officer might not see women as a threat or one who could be an aggressor thus leaving them open to harm from a female suspect. While in court proceedings, hidden bias can affect not only the juror, but also the judge, and attorneys as well. A great example would be a racial bias, where the juror unconsciously thinks that they suspected offender committed the crime based upon the thought that African Americans commit the most crime. Lastly, hidden bias can affect employment within the criminal justice system by racial, gender or sexual preference means. One experiment conducted showed that white interviewers sat further back from black applicants while making speech errors and ending the interview sooner (Tolerance.org). While another example would be having a female applicant apply for a high leadership position in a male dominated field, where women are seen as too caring and nurturing to be in such a commanding position.

Avoiding the influence of Hidden Bias

Since hidden bias is an unconscious part of humanity, it is hard to truly avoid the influence since most individuals don’t realize that they carry them. One of the most important things to remember when dealing with hidden bias is that it is completely normal to have them. It is just something that is there, much like how the appendix is in human anatomy. To avoid the influence of hidden bias, individuals have to be aware of what bias they have and how it impacts their decisions (Aperian Global).

A prominent way for an individual to learn about what hidden bias they harbor is to take the Implicit Association Test also acronym IAT. The Implicit Association Test is a test that measures an individual’s strength of association between concepts. The individual is asked to sort words into categories that are placed on the left and right-hand side of the screen. Within the IAT there are five main parts that are tested. Those five parts are: First sorting words relating to concepts into categories. Second sorting words in relation to evaluation. Third sorting both concepts and evaluation words at the same time. Fourth reversing the placement of the concept on the screen. Fifth reversing the combination from part three. Once all five parts are completed, the test is scored based on how long it takes for an individual to on average sort the words in part three versus the time in the fifth part. And based upon that score a hidden preference is stated to the individual that designates if they have a slight, moderate, or strong preference (Greenwalkd, Banaji, & Nosek, 1998).

Once an individual knows about the hidden bias they harbor, an individual can ensure ways of not letting it affect their daily life and decisions. There isn’t a lot of research at this time about if they (hidden bias) can be eliminated completely. However, it is possible to compensate for them. An individual can compensate by making themselves focus on things that are necessary to the decision they are making and not look at outside factors, such as their gender or race. For example, conducting employment interviews. Removing the gender and race of the applicant can help the interviewer focus on their credentials instead of the applicant’s demographic information. Another way of protecting oneself from creating additional hidden bias, is to be careful of what one thinks and how it can be interpreted in their minds (Greenwalkd, Banaji, & Nosek, 1998). Another measure one can take is to make an effort to learn more about the issue the hidden bias revolves around. For example, if there is a hidden bias against a certain group like elderly people then the individual can take time to get to know an elderly person to better understand them and help elevate that bias. Lastly, an individual can make a conscious effort to learn more about other and their cultures to better avoid creating more hidden bias (Aperian Global).

Combating Hidden Bias

If I were in middle management in charge of day to day operations within a facility and I wanted to help fight against hidden bias that I have and those that my staff had; I would first make everyone take the Implicit Associations Test. Upon taking the test, everyone would then know what hidden bias they had that they weren’t aware of. And now that everyone was made aware of them, I would then schedule hidden bias training to be conducted and mandate that attendance to the training was mandatory. The hidden bias training can be completed within 60 to 90 minutes, and provides practical advice for dealing with hidden bias.

My next step would be to ask the staff to make sure to hold each other accountable. When working to eliminate established bias, it is important that everyone is working together. If everyone is on the same page in relation to changing how people are hired, assigned, how communications are relayed and how interactions are conducted; we as a group can strive to change and commit change towards the hidden bias we hold (Loehr, 2016).

Conclusion

Although hidden bias lurks inside each individual, they do not make us bad people. It is normal to harbor those bias, and it comes from all of the experiences we as human beings have experienced. Hidden bias becomes an issue when we let it control our thoughts, perceptions and decisions. If we eliminate hidden bias, we can help eliminate prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes.