Unconscious bias
Important concepts to understand
What is unconscious bias?
Unconscious bias is when we unknowingly make decisions or judgements on the basis of assumptions, prior experience or personal thought patterns that get in the way of impartial judgement.1
It's 'unconscious' because we're not aware it's happening. This means it can be difficult for us to address. It does not mean that unconscious bias is an excuse for racism. We must all feel accountable for our actions and the things we say to our colleagues, patients and the people around us.
Being more aware of what unconscious bias is and examining our own possible biases is crucial to advancing equity and fairness in our judgements and actions. It empowers us to make mindful adjustments where we need to and take more ownership when we make mistakes that harm others.
While it can be difficult to address, taking time to talk openly and learn more about unconscious bias and its tangible impact is a good place to start.
Why does it matter?
Most of us make decisions that disadvantage people, even if we don't mean to. Unconscious bias matters because it:
- influences the way we build relationships with our colleagues and patients
- impacts our decision-making daily and at important moments in people's careers, such as recruitment, development, promotion and dismissal
Given that leadership in nursing and midwifery is still disproportionately white, people from the Global Majority are more likely to be disadvantaged by unconscious bias than white people (for more information, see the statistical case for going further in this resource).
This negatively affects the person who has lost out on an opportunity to progress their career, and means we may not have recruited the best person for the job.
How does unconscious bias present itself?
An example of unconscious bias could be a white British person being presented with two qualified candidates for a job, but picking the person whose name is most similar to their own and disregarding the candidate with a name they interpreted, consciously or not, as belonging to someone who is not white.
People often do this because of a phenomenon called similarity bias. People are likely to favour people they share similarities with.2 But we're not born with biases like this one: they are learned throughout our lives and shaped by our experiences.
How can we all become more aware?
The most difficult thing about unconscious bias is that we usually don't have insight into our own biases. It's very hard to stop something we're not aware of from happening. But that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do about it.
To start with, we can ask ourselves some questions when making decisions to help increase our awareness, such as:
- What am I thinking?
- Why am I thinking it?
- Is there a past experience that is impacting my current decisions?
- Am I making an assumption about someone?
- Am I assessing the facts, or am I relying on gut instinct?
While it's important to confront the fact that you may have bias, it's also important to know that you're not necessarily at fault. Instead of giving yourself a hard time, you should embrace the opportunity to be more reflective and be open to learning about how to make fairer decisions.
What do I do if I think I've received biased behaviour?
If you think you might be, or have been, disadvantaged by unconscious bias, you may be unsure about what happened and worried about speaking up. Speaking to a colleague, manager or HR about your concerns is a good place to start.
You may wish to create a diary of incidents so that you have a record of what's happening and how it's impacting you. You could also see if there is a staff network or support group you can attend to get advice on how to move forward. If you're one of our members, to reach out to our helpline for further support.
What do I do if I think someone else is on the receiving end of biased behaviour?
If you think someone else might have been on the receiving end of bias, you can either speak to them directly, or to your line manager. It is best to let the alleged victim decide whether or not they want to take action. If you are unsure about whether or not what you have observed or witnessed was biased, talking to your manager confidentially first is usually the best course of action.
If you would like to learn more about unconscious bias, we recommend exploring the following resources:
Unconscious Bias Toolkit, NHS Leadership Academy
Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Banaji & Greenwald (2013)
Conscious Inclusion: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, National School of Healthcare Science, (2023)
