Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives

by Howard J. Ross

If you are human, you are biased.

From this fundamental truth, diversity expert Howard Ross explores the biases we each carry within us. Most people do not see themselves as biased towards people of different races or different genders. And yet in virtually every area of modern life disparities remain. Even in corporate America, which has for the most part embraced the idea of diversity as a mainstream idea, patterns of disparity remain rampant. Why?

Breakthroughs in the cognitive and neurosciences give some idea why our results seem inconsistent with our intentions. Bias is natural to the human mind, a survival mechanism that is fundamental to our identity. And overwhelmingly it is unconscious.

Incorporating anecdotes from today’s headlines alongside case studies from over 30 years as a nationally prominent diversity consultant, Ross help readers understand how unconscious bias impacts our day-to-day lives and particularly our daily work lives. And, he answers the question: “Is there anything we can do about it?” by providing examples of behaviors that the reader can engage in to disengage the impact of their own biases. With an added appendix that includes lessons for handling conflict and bias in the workplace, this book offers an invaluable resource for a broad audience, from individuals seeking to understand and confront their own biases to human resource professionals and business leaders determined to create more bias-conscious organizations in the belief that productivity, personal happiness, and social growth are possible if we first understand the widespread and powerful nature of the biases we don’t realize we have.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Social Justice, Sociology, Business, Self Help, Personal Development

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Howard J. Ross is a builder of innovations in the field of diversity and inclusion and a unifier of people, organizations, and causes. He is founder & Chief Learning Officer of Cook Ross Inc. and an advisor to major global educational, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental organizations. Through his unique combination of a personal and system-focused approach, Howard is an advocate for high-performing organizational cultures that advance people, performance, and profits. He is the recent author of "ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose & Performance," published by Rowman Littlefield in association with the Society for Human Resource Management.

Reviews

[Donna Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a teen I was lucky enough to know everything. My Dad dubbed this teen phase, The I Know Years. That’s the teen answer, I know, everyone knows that, and/or didn’t you know that?
What I didn’t know and only found out as I grew older was, there was a lot I didn’t know. A lot.
What I didn’t know was so much more important that what I did know or thought I knew.

Whether we know it or not, whether we admit it or not, we are biased. Everyday.
We all have a bias…or two…or a dozen…or a thousand.

Bias is normal. It’s actually part of our flight or fight response, there to tell us if something is dangerous.
If you’re self-aware and use productive skepticism then you should effectively admit your biases and think through them logically.

What’s the difference between a bias, a prejudice, or a preference? Not as much as you would think.

I thoroughly enjoyed Howard J. Ross’s book, Everyday Bias (Rowman & Littlefield), borrowed from the awesome Netgalley.com
Naturally I started reading it chock full of bias. I thought I knew exactly what Ross was going to say (my teenage self and I still hang out sometimes; share a few giggles, cookies, and scoff-ee). We were firmly put in our place.
This book was so intriguing and thought-provoking that after I finished it I popped online to read more on the subject, and found Ross’s earlier work, Reinventing Diversity which was also amazing. I love a book that not only makes me think, examine, but also make me want to know more.

Our biases are mostly unconscious, and can run deep.
These start as newborns (yes, apparently babies can show bias) and are built upon though life experiences and things we hear, read, watch, etc.

Bias is even worse in times of stress and economic hardship because we exhibit more fear behaviour.
Years ago people showed this by rationing, conserving “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” ~Depression Era Slogan
Now we buy more, want more, do more; one thing has stayed the same, tyrants rise and freedoms fall during hard times. And others sit back and make money.
Logical fallacies reign, oppressors rise…

We have 24 hour news channels not because there’s more news, they’re infomercials for partisan views, after all, how can you sell your tribe’s views just at noon, 6 and 11? You need to drill the messages in 24-7-365.
We live in an we’re-right-and-no-one-else-is age. Confirmation bias is running rampant, we hear what we want to hear, believe what we already believed.
Republicans don’t listen to Democrats and vice versa.
Same here in Canada, the parties are so stuck in their ideology they sneer, snark, lie, and bicker.
The world is Us vs Them.
Rich vs poor.
Right vs wrong.
If you’re not with us, you’re against us.

Instead of making the world more inclusive, our empathy is waning with information overload.
Jumping from story to story, cause to cause, belief to belief. Platitudes, truisms, clichés…if it doesn’t fit in a soundbite, meme, gif, tweet, photo, video, if it has any depth, if it makes people look at society, life, etc. then it’s ignored or mocked. Fear is making us have more biases.
So we’re all biased, so what? Not really a problem, as long as we control them, not the other way round.


http://yadadarcyyada.com/2014/08/04/e...

[Bonnie Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. It tells us that everyone has innate bias, that we are all a product of our environment, that the messages we receive and the experiences we have from the time we are infants influences who we see as "one of us" or "one of them". The author doesn't categorize bias as being bad and makes a point out of saying that the person carrying the bias isn't automatically evil or a "bad" person. It's part of what makes us human. Instead, the author encourages the reader to forget political correctness and examine through their thoughts, feelings and experiences where their biases might lie, then provides a framework for working through them without guilt or self-reproach. I liked the neutral, non-judgmental tone of the book. The author approaches bias as a psychological and emotional fact of life that can be worked on and improved, not as a fatal character flaw separating "good" people from "bad" people.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty basic overview to the idea of biases. The author uses some brain science and some real-life examples to explain how bias is in everyone. At times it came across like "Everyone's a little bit racist" in a way that was divorced from larger structures of power and privilege. However, there was a separate section about different types of power that I found to be useful. I wish that he'd gone a little deeper into the idea that we see having bias through a "good person / bad person" paradigm, because I think unpacking that is important, but then again I suppose he got at the same idea (everyone has bias, not just bad people) in a different way. I thought the writing was pretty clunky at times. This definitely isn't the best book I've read on bias, but if for some reason you feel safer learning about these topics from a white dude, then this one isn't bad.

[Jason Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone with a PhD in psychology who has done work on bias, I am admittedly a very tough audience for a book like this. That being said, this book excels where Malcolm Gladwell fails: Howard Ross never tries to act like implicit bias or social identity theory is something he created. Instead, he is here to teach and inform and does both well. (And while he buys into the IAT too much, he does very briefly note a rightful critique.)

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and well written overview of common biases that impact all of us and strategies for mitigating negative impacts. A solid primer for anyone who has not thought much about the topic but otherwise not enough new to recommend this one.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very succinct introduction to the topic of bias. Had a nice mix of literature review and real-life samples throughout. Was appropriately encouraging without being preachy. And, at a cover price of $30, seems like it would make a great college textbook (among other things).

[Michael Loveless · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Everyday Bias. Howard Ross does in the book what the subtitle promises. He helps readers understand why human beings have biases, helps them to identify their own, and explains how to prevent these biases from doing harm to themselves and others. Although I think every American should read this book, there are two kinds of people who will probably hate it and not learn much from it. First are those who say things like, "I don't see skin color." They are likely to be offended by the suggestion that they do have biases. The second group will be the anti-CRT crowd. By looking hard enough and making inferences about the author's meaning, they are also likely to dismiss this book as merely another attempt to make white people feel bad. It is my hope that some people even from these two groups will gain helpful insights by reading it. If they don't, I wouldn't blame Ross. He does a wonderful job of explaining bias. To summarize, he says that our brains are excellent at making sense of limited information by filling in the gaps in our knowledge. The conclusions we draw are unavoidably informed by our previous life experiences. However, these snap judgements, when applied to people may cause us to treat people in a way that is unfair to them and even harms us. Once Ross establishes this principal of the inevitability of bias, he helps his readers to analyze their attitudes and ideas to determine if irrelevant factors may be leading to problems. Please, read this book. If you do so with an open mind, you are likely to really benefit from it.

[Emmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book's conversational tone and its presentation of reasonable, practical ways to rethink bias. The audiobook narration was well done.

My one gripe with the book is the author's frequent mention of his "weight struggles." While he does cover fat phobia and its affects quite well, it seems he failed to recognize that talking about his own fatness as if it's something to struggle with and overcome is, in fact, fat-phobic language. He doesn't talk about having difficulty with blood sugar or blood pressure or cholesterol or limited mobility, the things sometimes correlated with fatness that actually have health consequences, he talks about being fat. Frequently. I don't know whether to be annoyed that he perpetuates that bias in a book about bias, or to think it's an apt example of having a bias in ourselves that we don't even recognize. Either way, I think the author should examine this about himself a little closer.

[Craig Gusmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening. The number of implicit and explicit biases we contend with day-to-day makes it a small wonder society is able to function. Most people either don't think about it, or aren't self-reflective enough to understand how their biases effect their interactions with others or negatively impacts their own lives. Definitely a book, or a topic of learning, that everyone should be exposed to.

What I especially like about this book is that it's actionable. Too often these types of trainings or books explain a lot, but offer very little in terms of how to approach change. This book offers ways to change your personal recognition of bias, as well as ways to change organizational biases.

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator was engaging, but there are certain things that benefit from having a hard copy. Tables, charts, and visual cues that highlight different types of bias, for instance. That said, I didn't find those to be imperative to understanding any concepts.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a human, you are biased, and it impacts us in large and small ways, and in many cases for understandable reasons.

That’s the message stated clearly in the first chapter title: If You are Human, You Are Biased.

The author, founder of one of the largest diversity consulting firms in the country, lays out the facts, as borne by research to back this point, and then, through the rest of the book dives deeper and applies the research in specific situations. This is research that really should matter to all of us – to better understand how and why we think and decide what we decide, and how that relates to the people we interact with.

Read more...

[Marvin Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for data to support an idea that I'm proposing to HR for my next hiring occasion. I want to ask the recruiters to sort candidates as they do, but instead of sending me resumes for the interview candidates, I want them to just schedule interviews with me, without sending their resume or telling me their name. I'll design interview questions based on the job description, and will listen to their responses with as few preliminary indicators about them as I can manage, to try to eliminate subconscious biases.

I've spent some time studying this (and had work training), so I can't say that I encountered a lot of new (to me) information here, but it's a very consumable, thorough introduction to the concepts for those beginning their journey toward reducing bias in their decision making.

[Ingrid Parada · Rating 4 out of 5]

El autor desarrolla la idea de que todo ser humano está sesgado, es decir, que las personas tienen preferencias inconcientes creadas por sus experiencias e identidades culturales y sociales.
El autor ayuda a entender cómo identificarlos y superar estos sesgos que son propios e inconcientes.

Concluye que si bien no hay forma de eliminar totalmente estas tendencias o sesgos de las personas, un primer paso para reducirlos es tomar conciencia de que existen e identificarlos, esto puede ser aplicado tanto en las personas como en las organizaciones, alentando a desarrollar estrategias para reducir el sesgo en personas y culturas organizacionales creando ambientes más diversos e inclusivos.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this title...it was a great read. There are a lot of examples given throughout the book, which makes it helpful to understand. It is a very well researched book, and there are A LOT of statistics thrown at you. In those instances, I found myself rewinding and relistening to fully grasp the numbers and data being shared. Ultimately I think everyone should read this, especially in today's climate. It's important to understand that WE ALL have bias, unconscious bias, that can't be avoided, but we can learn to be aware of it and try to do better in our interactions with other humans and to be better humans overall.

[Francia Kissel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recent studies of implicit bias training reveal that certain trainings backfire, resulting in more racist behavior rather than less. The unsuccessful trainings are those which emphasize the normalcy of bias without offering detailed, specific, action-oriented steps to combat it. This book, Everyday Bias, seems to me to have a similar flaw. Ross exhaustively explains how bias is hard-wired into our brains and why, but he offers only 20 pages of advice to individuals. While I enjoyed reading the neuro-psych studies, on the whole I was disappointed in the book. It just wasn't very helpful.

[Weekend Reader_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read if you are trying to find resources to help with social justice training and/or discussions. Ross was mostly neutral in his writing while acknowledging power and privilege and racism. There were so many good examples and topics to covered throughout the text. One example Ross shared was the fact that qualifications are agreed upon biases that are codified. I keep thinking about this point and I have to say I agree.

[PaviG · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very well thought out and well written book, the structure of the book was good and went into a good detail of how bias plays in our daily lives. The only qualm I had about this book was there were many known examples, I wish the author had gone deeper by portraying more examples than the familiar ones. At some point the book became theoretical and I started skipping pages just so I can get a gist. Otherwise this is good one time read

[TaschaBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a required reading for my graduate school Human Diversity course and felt it was a solid companion during the class. It gave me lots of food for thought and recognizing my own biases in congruence with my course materials. Honestly, everyone should read it to better themselves in a world that is conditioned to fear one another for safety.

[Karin Bodewits · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice and engaging introduction to unconscious bias with many clarifying stories. The book creates awareness.
In case you are looking for a more 'practical book' I would recommend to read 'What Works' by Iris Bohnet instead (or in addition).

[Jocelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw Howard Ross speak and few months ago, and I think he does an excellent job of breaking down and defining bias. This book is a well-researched continuation of his work, and I highly recommend it.

[K Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are created to be humans with biases. Bias essentially is the internal judgment that we have based on our cultural context and experiences. It's impossible to remove biases. But we can become aware of it, and question ourselves on occasions when it's needed. This is a great book on DEI.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book. Should be mandatory for anyone who works in HR, Talent Acquisition or managing people. All humans are bias to some extent, and the degree to which you’re willing to be honest with yourself is the degree to which you can behave more consciously and not be ruled by bias.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a work thing. Interesting summary of some ideas around unconscious bias that I have read about elsewhere, but overall a bit dry, and business orientated for my needs, with more focus on organisations than the individual.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

No review, I might just be biased 😂

Just kidding, this was very informational but i’m glad its over, this isn’t one to read from to the kids at night, but it does show and help to understand which is very important in these trying times.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some day, I'm going to learn that business books are inflated articles. The ideas expressed here were interesting, but it was a push to extend this book to 160 pages.

[Alberto Tebaldi · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is mostly focused on american biases against local minorities, but was a good insight about the automatic nature of certain human behaviours.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to read for anyone looking to learn about internal biases and how to change them.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. not a lot new, but it was good for pulling together a lot of thoughts. I would have like more discussion of tackling bias

[Tomas Nilsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better books I’ve ever read on bias. The book is based on published peer reviewed research and the author builds on the experience of consulting in this area.

[Shayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worth time read - all stats are American based though which isn’t ideal and the target audience is obviously skewed towards older, business peoples in power - not regular Joe’s