Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias

by Pragya Agarwal

Uncovers the science behind our "unintentional" biases using real world stories underpinned by scientific theories and research.Experiments have shown that our brains categorize people by race in less than one-tenth of a second, about 50 milliseconds before determining sex. This means that we are labeling people by race and associating certain characteristics to them without even hearing them speak or getting to know them. This subtle cognitive process starts in the amygdala, the area of the brain associated with strong emotions.Does this mean that unconscious biases are hardwired into our brains as an evolutionary response, or do they emerge from assimilating information that we see around us? In Sway , author Pragya Agarwal uncovers the science behind our "unintentional" biases. Using real world stories underpinned by scientific theories and research, this book unravels the way our unconscious biases are affecting the way we communicate, make decisions and perceive the world. A wide range of implicit biases are covered, including left-handedness, age-ism, sexism and aversive racism, and by using research and theories from a wide range of disciplines, including social science, psychology, biology and neuroscience, readers learn how these biases manifest and whether there is anything we can do about them. Beginning with an introduction to what unconscious bias actually is, each chapter answers questions such-Do our roots for prejudice lie in our evolutionary past?-What happens in our brains when our biases are activated?-How has bias affected technology?-Can we ever completely get rid of unconscious bias?At a time when race politics, the gender pay gap and diversity and inclusivity in the workplace are dominating our conversations, understanding how unconscious bias functions within all of us is more important than ever. The book encourages readers to think, understand and evaluate their own biases in a scientific and non-judgmental way.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Race, Feminism, Sociology, Social Justice

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2020

About the author

Dr Pragya Agarwal is an activist, behavioural and data scientist, speaker and a consultant. As a Senior Academic in US and UK universities, she has held the prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship, following a PhD from the University of Nottingham. Her publications are on reading lists of leading academic courses across the world.

Pragya is the author of SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias published with Bloomsbury Publishing, and ‘Wish we knew what to say: Talking with children about race’, a manual for parents, carers and educators of all backgrounds and ethnicities to talk to children about race and racism, published with Dialogue Books (Little, Brown/Hachette).

Pragya has worked as a consultant and speaker with organisations around the world, including universities, corporate and non-profits, and schools, delivering talks and workshops on unconscious bias, racism, social inclusion, power and privilege.

A passionate campaigner for women’s rights, and two-time TEDx speaker herself, Pragya organised the first ever TEDxWoman event in the north of the UK. She regularly appears on panels and has given keynotes around the world. Pragya has appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour, BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Australian Broadcasting Service, and Canadian Radio. She is the founder of a social enterprise The Art Tiffin. and a research think-tank The 50 Percent Project investigating women’s status and rights around the world. Pragya is the winner of the Diverse Wisdom Writing award from Hay House Publishing in 2018, and was named as one of the 100 influential women in social enterprise in the UK, and one of 50 people creating change in the UK-India corridor.

As a freelance journalist, Pragya writes - ethical, literary, scientific- articles widely. Her writing on bias and prejudice, motherhood, gender and racial inequality and mental health has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, Scientific American, Independent, BMJ, Times Higher Education, Huffington Post, Prospect, Forbes, and many more.

Pragya has a mini podcast series ‘Outside the boxes’ examining how the labels and stereotypes affect us as a society, the science behind it, and what we can do about it. And, in 2020, she launched another mini-series ‘Wish We Knew What To Say’ to accompany her book of the same name. In six episodes, she speaks with parents of different ethnic backgrounds about their experiences and raising children with secure identities.

Pragya moved to the UK from India almost twenty years ago to study for a Masters at the University of York on a British Council Fellowship, and now lives in the north- west with her family.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It can feel as if we've simultaneously made leaps and bounds in tackling social justice and dismantling damaging prejudices, yet a stream of current events point to many steps taken backward and disheartening deficits. Sway is a cogent statement that we need more knowledge, more research, and more attention paid to how our biases, both explicit and implicit, manifest in problematic individual and societal behavior. Pragya Agarwal's heavily researched book is broad in its reach, but it coalesces on a largely difficult to make concrete subject: implicit bias, or unconscious attitudes towards certain characteristics which, in turn, greatly influence our judgements and decisions.

This book has made me hyper-cognizant of the sundry ways that bias creeps into our daily lives. I was already familiar with a number of these biases with varying degrees of exposure, as many others will also be, and I ultimately think this made me less captivated by some of the material. Agarwal explores race, gender, political partisanship, age, names, accents, and artificial intelligence. She mentions renowned cognitive psychologists like Tversky and Kahneman who were influential in the field of heuristics and decision-making, but also expands upon more recent investigative examples to highlight the persistance of biased behavior. One of the most valuable parts of this book is how she places many of these well-traversed subject areas in a modern framework and unabashedly critiques experimental design or the significance of results.

Other more "pop" psychology books, like Blink, The Undoing Project, or 21 Lessons for the 21st Century are quicker and easier to digest, delving into many parallel or identical studies and topics; in comparison, Sway offers a more sprawling buffet of all biases. It can be eye-opening, yet also feel like a lot to digest when you are desperately trying to juggle your running list: negativity bias, truth bias, confirmation bias, frequency bias, position bias (these are just a few; there are many more). The book is inevitably jargon-heavy because the author chooses to present such a vast array of psychology concepts. Earlier in the book, the footnotes felt unnecessary or excessive, and the neurobiology parts were dense to the point of devolving into alphabet soup. This resolved about a third of the way into the book, paving the way for more compelling research studies and some well-positioned personal anecdotes about her experience as an Indian woman, scientist, person of color, immigrant, and mother. Biases are inherently intersectional, and Agarwal sets out to make sure we recognize the myriad avenues in which implicit and explicit attitudes differentially affect individuals. Stereotypes persist as much as we strive to recognize individuality and equity, and she presents some startling studies that reveal how much we still (arguably, unconsciously) allow them to influence our judgements and decisions once we take a closer look at the data.

Just because it's hard to put a finger on our hidden biases and unconscious behaviors, Sway emphasizes that we have no excuse to discount how the silent and unseen can be just as pernicious as the explicit acts in forming irrational and debilitating views of the "other." What seems hidden ends up manifesting in external behaviors and thoughts, with sometimes tragic consequences. Agarwal relies on a moral argument to advocate for acting to confront our internal biases, as they have ramifications for childhood development, career advancement, family, mental health, or even a matter of life or death.

Knowing is ultimately only half the battle. In terms of actionable items, Agarwal provides less prescriptive points than I would've preferred. Where she excels at providing a detailed groundwork that uncovers the multiple levels of biases, she does not address improving implicit biases with the same detail. It's tough to do that, but I want it if I'm going to read a whole book about it. She advocates for ensuring that biases are addressed early on, as racial and physical preferences can develop in five-year-olds or even younger. Greater interpersonal contact, be it intergenerational for countering ageism or multicultural for countering racism, is also crucial. These are familiar pieces of advice, but Sway makes clear that we should not be complacent in thinking we've done even nearly enough to combat bias.

We who want to believe that we are no longer prejudiced or biased are then wishful thinkers. Agarwal has compiled a bulwark of psychological studies, both landmark historical studies and recent discoveries. Analyzing them with a clear scientific voice, she has certainly set forth a strong work that demands we look internally for hope of enacting personal and societal change.

Many thanks to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sway is a breakneck tour, covering an astonishing breadth of material relating to human cognition, bias and prejudice and discrimination and exclusion. The first section of the book is focused on the neuroscience of bias - creation of in-group and out-group, and the ways that fear and stereotypes reside in which sections of the brain. The second section of the book looks at stereotyping and prejudice in more detail, mixing some cognition with social statistics. The third takes a deep dive into racism, sexism and also colorism, ageism, and the issue of conventional beauty. The final section looks at the implications of all this.
It's a pretty short book, so as you can imagine, each of these topics is covered at a furious pace. Agarwal is very well-read, and she moved rapidly from vastly disparate studies and disciplines to make her points. The book's strength is in how well it conveys the ways that social hierarchies intersect with biology to create prejudices that feel 'real'. Agarwal gives a wonderful taster for the various disciplines in which this is relevant, from big data analysis of search results, to brain imaging, to social sciences. She weaves personal anecdote in to illustrate the impact of these abstract statistics - powerful examples of what it is like to be the victim of bias so invisible the perpetrators would be outraged at the suggestion that they are doing it.
While I am in agreement with Agarwal's conclusions, and was frankly impressed by her accurate summarisation of the studies I was already familiar with (in a field with a tendency to cherry pick), there were times when I felt she combined studies into different things in ways that could have used more qualification or elaboration. This is exacerbated by the absence of footnoted references. There is a list at the end of each chapter, but no way to match the point to the reference. This is extra frustrating because it makes it difficult to follow up on the studies I was not familiar with. At times, in the first section, she seems to combine all forms of cognition that are not strictly rational (i.e. All cognition!) into bias. One example I did disagree with was her use of risk taking, for example, in which she used the areas standard argument that people make more cautious judgements about risk when there is more at stake, even though probabilities haven't changed. With more space in the book, this could have been explored a bit more - is it "irrational" to take risks when the consequences of failure are smaller but not when they are higher? I have a bugbear about this because it is often used to show that women take less risks than men, when possibly, women have more to lose.
An added issue here is that one of the few things Agarwal doesn't cover is how systemic discrimination and oppression, which can leave it with a sense that this is very much a question of individual responses, not a social struggle. I'd suggest reading this alongside something like Isobel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents for a different approach to racism that focuses on the social structures. (I'm not counterposing them to be clear, this topic is bigger than one book (or two)). Jennifer Eberhardt's Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do is also a good deep dive into implicit bias, with a narrower but deeper focus than here.
Having said all of that, I know I am going to be recommending this book. Not only because the breadth makes it a good introduction to how deep bias runs, but also because Agarwal's fierce intellect makes it a pleasure to engage with. It's been a long time since I read a book whose author I wanted to question quite so much. There was much I did find frustrating, and I wish the book had leant more towards the academic side, but I will read anything Agarwal writes next.

[Sarah Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book, I felt that maybe I had made a mistake in choosing a book that covers so many topics that I have already read about. It felt like just the bits and pieces from other books about psychology, cognitive errors, and bias from the many books I have read on the topic. But as I progressed I saw that this really is a full primer on the topic; a great one stop shop for those who haven’t read other books in the genre and a comprehensive summary of the research for those of us who have. Like with controversial articles, I made the grave error of reading the comments and regret it. I was absolutely astonished (but not astonished at all) to see so many people with privilege commenting about how they liked the first bit of the book, but didn’t like the later chapters (which tend to be about race, gender, accents, etc...) because they felt it was too “woke” and too “anecdotal”. A few things. The author actually does a brilliant job of weaving together narrative and fact. She covers how she does this in the beginning. Several books on the exact same topic by white men do the same thing, and yet their reviews do not complain that the book is woke, nor do they complain that the book uses anecdotes because (presumably) the people reading the book agree with or relate to the anecdotes. The anecdotes in this book are clearly illustrative and she never claims them as a replacement of fact. That’s what makes a good popular science book. When you see that other reviewers complain the book is too dense with research, you can perhaps start to understand the conundrum she was in when writing it. I think the balance was good. Was it perfect? Of course not. But if your complaint is that she weaved her own narrative or others’ throughout the book to illustrate the implications of fact, then you must have missed the bits about neuroscience and narrative. We think in stories. If you don’t like the stories because they don’t confirm yours, well...that’s the point. It’s meant to help you to see things from a different perspective.

The main criticism I have for the book - that others have expressed as well - is it spends far too little time on solutions. But the reality is this: we don’t have solutions. This research is in its infancy, and so, too, are solutions. She clearly wanted to have solutions that were evidence based, and the thinness of these in this book is not suggestive of her failings as an author, but a clear signal that this is an area where we actually need a lot more work. The mere fact that the current solution that is most common (I.e. these unconscious bias quizzes) are not replicable or particularly useful should tell you a lot. As the awareness of these issues grows, the fact is that we still don’t know what to do to address them. This book is the start of a conversation, and a comprehensive one at that. It is not a handbook to solve these complex and pervasive issues, nor does she ever promise it to be.

[Dylan Siebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

My book group wanted to read something about the neuroscience of prejudice, but we were disappointed in this one. The author's argument seems to be as follows:

1) We are neurologically 'hardwired' to sort people into categories and to prefer some categories over others
2) Morally speaking, this is really wrong
3) Something should be done about this

Some chapters were a mass of brain anatomy jargon that seemed to simply prove the author's credentials rather than building her argument. Other chapters cited study after study on cognitive bias, most of which seemed dubiously designed and were not listed in the bibliography. Even at sentence-level, the writing was frequently grammatically confusing or vague.

I read halfway through the book and let my friends fill me in on what they'd skimmed of the second half. My recommendation is to not even open the cover.

[Anita Tobar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sway is a truly comprehensive review of what unconscious bias is, how it works, and how we can try to fight it back. Pragya masterfully walks you through complex topics with clarity, offering different degrees of depth (e.g., extensive footnotes & references). As a researcher, I acknowledge the incredible amount of work behind this book: It's comprehensive, scientifically accurate, engaging, and transparent. As an immigrant Latina and a second language speaker living abroad, Sway gave me perspective on how to identify unconscious bias against myself, my community, and other minorities. As a Latina doing psycholinguistics, Sway offered me interesting insights into how unconscious bias affects cognitive processing and behaviour, at the same time that it gave me hope and strength.

[Henna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sway is a thought-provoking and poignant exploration into how we as individuals and communities use our biases on a daily basis, leading to prejudice and discrimination. A must-read.

An extremely powerful quote given what's happening in the States right now:

"Black people accounted for 30 per cent of police killing victims in 2012, even though they made up just 13 per cent of the US population."

[Rick Ruble · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on a recommendation of a speaker at a conference, and having read a lot this year on prejudice and bias, thought it would be another perspective that would be worthwhile. I was disappointed. There is a lot of science included in the book describing the reality of bias based on race, gender, skin color, etc., and the development of the difference between implicit bias and explicit bias. What Agarwal fails to realize is that her implicit bias is that bias is an evolutionary trait that has developed and been hired-wired into humans. It is her only explanation for where bias comes from. That implicit (and explicit) bias completely colors both her solutions and analysis. Is explicit bias real? Yes. Is implicit bias real? Yes. Will bias be eradicated by exposure to and interaction with others who don't look like me? Perhaps explicit bias can be minimized that way, but implicit bias never will be unless you deal with a person's heart. That is the only way lasting change in an individual can happen. And without real change in the heart of individuals, society can only manage who the bias is tolerated against.

[Jan · Rating 1 out of 5]

An important topic, but like so many so-called 'worthy' books these days I felt it was just a poorly constructed heap of anecdotes accompanied by probably well-meaning but ill-argued conclusions.
Towards the end of reading it I happened on the Psychologies Magazine's Suzy Walker online video interview with the writer in June, which I wished I had watched before starting the book as Argawal demonstrated little if anything in the way of original thought then.
Probably another book for those who prefer 'virtue-signalling' to actually taking real action to improve the well-being of groups materially affected by bias, unconscious or otherwise.
No doubt we'll see this particular work prominently displayed on many a colleague's office bookshelf but at the end of the day nothing in the way of a game-changer.

[Jamad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay. The authors descriptions and examples of unconscious bias were fine when founded in research but there were too many blanket statements for me. These were usually tied to instances of personal experience. For example her child is sick and the hospital doesn’t think it is serious (it was):
“When the doctors and nurses refused to take my concerns seriously, they were most likely acting on their implicit bias, which is that parents, especially mothers, can become hysterical when it comes to their children’s health.”
You could substitute “experience” for “bias” there.

Similarly:

“Only 2 per cent of working women plan to leave the workforce for family reasons, yet 43 per cent of highly qualified women either completely opt out35 or step off their career trajectory on their way back to work post-baby.”

Again could have nothing to do with bias, just that women under estimate the effort and time needed to raise a child.

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting. Considering all the many many different biases we hold (and how they intersect) at the same time is striking. Although there’s little to no coverage of bias towards trans and NB people - Agarwal acknowledges this. I found the AI / tech chapter particularly Woah

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have taken unconscious bias training in the past, but this is above and beyond anything else I've read in the past.
Because of the depth, more areas of potential bias are covered and considered. Not just race and gender, but also age, weight, height, accent, political party...

[Jan Watt · Rating 3 out of 5]

More technical & statistical than I was expecting. Found it heavy going so switched to audible. Easier to listen and drive but consequently not taken any notes so won’t remember a thing! Good for raising my general awareness of unconsciousness bias both within me & in the way society is structured. It’s all around. Not sure how positive or optimistic a book it is but good for awareness.

[Ismail Mayat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful read. As a person of colour and Muslim has been on the receiving end of conscious and unconscious bias this book was useful in opening my eyes to my own biases and I have a few unconscious ones that I need to work on.

[Shona · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book digs deep into how each of us form and carry unconscious bias of some sort. We judge, we exclude people, we stereotype. Many biases are formed throughout our life, though societal and parental conditioning and held at the subconscious level. Biases are linked intrinsically to our notion of self-concept and self-identity which is why it is difficult to shake them off. Social categorization occurs spontaneously when we meet new people. Without realization we tend to assign a category based on ace, class, gender etc.
In this book the author puts forward her points based on various studies and experiments. She tries to make us understand through various stories and instances from her own life. While going through the book I came across several new information and trust me when you open the book you are going to find it all highlighted. When we finish reading a non-fiction we often forget to put our learnings into practices but with this book i didn't want to forget anything. We are complex beings living in a problematic society with deep-rooted thoughts and beliefs which tend to influence our judgments often in the wrong manner. Our brains have evolved to reason adaptively rather than rationally or truthfully.
The book is very well researched and talks about numerous topics starting from gut instincts to herd mentality, from racial bias to explicit hate crimes. Lastly it also talks about de-biasing and how we need to activate our logical and rational thinking and actively get rid of any biases that can effect our decision-making process. Overall it was a very informative read but does contain several technical terms and situations which can be a little bit difficult to understand but at every page author has added footnotes explains any jargons if used. If you want to get an in depth knowledge regarding unconscious bias you can definitely pick it up.

[Chris Geggis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very difficult to read, and not from a vocabulary standpoint. I really did not enjoy it. Others in my science book club also found it very difficult. Personally, I consciously try to treat any other human the way I like to be treated. I am painfully aware that many people do not make as much of an effort. Reading scientific evidence that we may not be as good at this as we think we are, is difficult. Coupled with the fact that there is not a lot we can do to alter the way other people think or behave, this was on the verge of downright depressing.

[Sabrina Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: Really interesting research about how discrimination works in the brain, how we've evolved and how it's even inbuilt in our technology. I learnt a lot from reading it!

Cons: There were too many footnotes and the thematic/chapter flow was lacking. Early and late chapters were really strong, with the middle dragging on a little.

[R Venkitachalam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one book that took a lot longer for me to complete. Not because the book is voluminous nor is it because of the language deployed. It was just because one did not want miss any of the biases or prejudices being discussed in the book. That brings me to the reasons why you should consider picking up the book though its title may you no clue about its genre. The author is also a greenhorn trying her hand at writing a book covering such a serious subject. We firmly believe that we are egalitarian by nature and carry no biases and prejudices. Consequently we are reluctant to reexamine our own beliefs even if someone tells you to. It may come as a surprise to most of us that almost the entire processing of the brain happens in our subconscious mind resulting in the processed information getting stored in recesses in the brain beyond the normal reach of our conscious mind. The author herself admits that people could at best be sensitised to the existence of such biases, prejudices and stereotyping deeply ingrained in them but obliterating them is virtually impossible.

The book is a mini compendium on the psychology behind human behavior. It is a ready to use guide to a whole lot of human failings for myriads of reasons. It starts with a scientific exposition on the causes and reasons behind biases. The author also takes the reader briefly through the neural circuitry of the brain and its functions. It soon moves to related areas and finally ends up with a social commentary on what ails the society and what ought to be done to 'debiase' it. The author is at her eloquent best when it comes to biases and stereotyping associated with race and gender possibly because of her lived experience of being a woman with a different ethnic background in a foreign land. After reading books like “Thinking, fast and slow” by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman one may feel a bit underwhelmed by “Sway”. That should not take away the credit that this book deserves for the sheer efforts taken by the author to familiarise the readers with so many cognitive heuristics and biases. Just by way of example, if you have wondered, like I have, why Indira Gandhi is called Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi is called Modi you would find a clue in this book and the answer may even surprise you. Did you ever know that one may have a tendency to regard older persons as debilitated and unworthy of attention or unsuitable for employment? It is an implicit bias known as ageism. When Donald Trump goes after those who are short it is a case of heightism, another kind of bias. These are but a few examples of what you would find in the book. If you think with Artificial Intelligence all these biases would vanish in the near future, think again. Technological products and services have been proven to reflect the biases of those who design them. All in all, it is worth investing some quality time in this book. It would be worth it.

[Gavin Felgate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Near to the end of her book, Asian writer Pragya Agarwal tells a story of how a white elderly couple berated her and her partner for not keeping their children under control, and wonders whether they would have reacted the same if she had been white herself.

This book addresses the amount of inequality in society created by peoples' unconscious biases. It felt like a sobering read at times, particularly as it became clear that in most cases women and people of colour are being discriminated against because of stereotyping, and also gender and racial profiling. As feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie once said: "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but they are incomplete". Considering that there has been a lot of coverage given to the ever-present gender pay gap (mentioned in this book), it definitely felt very topical.

At times while reading this book, I would think that some of the information I was reading was stuff I knew already, which was one of the things that stopped me giving the book 5 stars. I would argue that women aren't necessarily the only ones who suffer from unconscious bias, thinking about comments MP Andrea Leadsom has previously said about male nannies.

Other things mentioned in the book were quite surprising, including a whole chapter about how certain modern technology often discriminate against people of colour, and seem to reflect the biases of people who created them (one example mentioned is automatic taps not working when people of some races try to use them). The book also mentions discrimination against people due to social class, masculine or feminine appearance, and even height. Reading this made me realise just how far we have to go before society can be completely equal.

As the author concludes, "unconscious bias is never an excuse for discriminatory behaviour. Not every bias is unconscious and outside the control of the person. There are biases that we can control once we are aware of the way they influence our decisions. Unconscious bias training does not exonerate an individual from taking responsibility for their actions and their role in creating inequities and amplifying injustice".

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was an ordeal!

Probably my 15th or more book on behavior and bias, and also applied to economics. I enjoy this topic and always am looking to expand my knowledge in this area.

Without getting into the aspect that the author deems all unconscious bias to be negative, which is NOT always true (i.e., flowers smell nice - when in reality, not always). She seems offended by nearly EVERY human instinct we have from our "System 1" brains. Of course, stereotypes are not always right, but they have been from time to time in peoples minds, and with the unconscious bias she discusses (which is accurate, by the way), people jump to conclusions that are not in the best of society in general.

This book is SO LONG and tedious, building such stacks of data to support how bad we are in every respect, it gets very tiresome. To steal another reviewer's comments, as I thought they are accurate:

The author's argument seems to be as follows:

1) We are neurologically 'hardwired' to sort people into categories and to prefer some categories over others
2) Morally speaking, this is really wrong
3) Something should be done about this

Thank you, Dylan Siebert.

It is exactly his #3 comment that I agree with in his assessment, and that irks me the most about this book! So many hours listening to this book drone on and on, and then only a whole whopping 14 minutes of what to do about it. Really? The unsuspecting reader will feel like crap after reading this, and think they/we are hopeless. Agarwal seems so intent on protecting the mental health of everyone who is in a disadvantaged group, but not realizing that many of the same people she espouses to support, fall into the masses of these despicably biased people. So, instead of building up mental health, she is creating more anxiety than abating.

Okay - rant over.

Try another one, any other one, on the subject, I'm begging you!

[Eddie Chua · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this, I get to understand more about my own unconscious bias in life, on why before even talking to anyone, the visuals of a person would already create an image of said person. Truly, a misconception and judgement of a being prior to anything else. From the physical, there is already a pre-set image based on age, sex, height, weight, color. After just a simple introduction comes the name (this was new to me), accent, nationality and religion. Other parameters such as social circle, schools and other affiliations There are so many parameters in which one can classify a person, to determine if individual is part of one's in-group or out-group.

When I say I am embracing and accepting to everyone, am I truly? What are my own unconscious biases that I have on others? Singapore regularly celebrate racial harmony day and a range of other festivals as a reminder of social inclusiveness to every citizens. The recent revived movement of "Black Live Matters" was an indication of the discrimination and disparity of different groups of people globally (though US re-started, it went global). Singapore have it's own subtle racism and personally guilty of it, as what was believed to be banter, is a justification to abuse to another.

The way to eradicate unconscious biases is to be consciously unbiased. To explore my most inner thoughts about different groups of people, people whom I don't often or even at all mix around. To be with people that I may be uncomfortable with because my mind say we are different, for in the exploration of the other, we may have more in common that I had assumed. Through time, when I say to build an inclusive environment, it is really to be aware of my pre-set bias of my in-group and break it all apart.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, we need some kid/teen friendly versions of this book. Because if I had any say, this would be mandatory reading for every human being.

There are other books I've said everyone should read, but this book covers so many topics! But all have (basically) one root cause, bias.

Everyone has bias, absolutely everyone. Our brains were wired this way for survival, 'people that a different can be dangerous'. Our brain kinda takes the lazy way and ignores things that look similar to what we're used to but puts us on alert when something is different. We also learn from society, imagine every human being having to figure out which plants are poisonous on their own and not learning it from their community. That would be exhausting and a waste of energy, so we take shortcuts and when someone says that this plant is poisonous we believe them (or even taking subtle clues that this plant is not good).

The problem with this, is human beings are often wrong and we're not to fond of change or being told that we're wrong (how long did it take to convince people that we weren't the center of the universe?).

This book goes into the science of what are brain does when we are faced with these problems. Why do we think the way we do, what do our brains actually do when confronted with a bias? This book might be too much like reading a research paper for some people, but this is such important knowledge I would say try to get through this book even if it isn't normally your cup of tea.

The number one way to work on your bias, is first to realize you have it along with everyone else. This book is a great start to that endeavor.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sway - Unravelling Unconscious Bias' is written by mathematician and behavioural scientist Pragya Argawal. As would be expected from someone with her background it's extremely well-researched and thorough. The first few chapters I found quite difficult as she talks about all the research done into the brain in relation to bias and it's very scientific (as least for me it was). But the following chapters were easier for me to follow. I've read a lot on bias and prejudice but this was the first book I've read that looks for explanations of how and why unconscious bias occurs. Some of it I was aware of before and some of it seems like common sense. But I still learnt an awful lot. It took me ages to read - not just because of the difficult initial chapters, but because I kept stopping to think and reflect on what I was reading and learning. It's a book I'd recommend to anyone, but especially to anyone who has a role where they hire (or fire) people, or where they have input into the lives of other people (teachers, doctors, police, etc).

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important book that shines a light on all the implicit bias we each live with. There’s some heavy-duty neurophysiology to wade through that describes what happens in the brain at a cellular and sub-cellular level when we experience difference and ultimately develop biassed thoughts, but this lends credence to the existence of implicit bias.

I had to put this book down part of the way through so I could work through the very impactful implications of gender bias as I have experienced it in my life. I was particularly interested in stereotype anxiety and how that affects those who are a victim of stereotyping. On picking it up again it moved into areas of bias I have read less about such as age, beauty, height and accents, and have started to realise how pervasive these are in many aspects of society. It has given me so much to think about and has already changed how I see/react to my own experiences, and to check my own implicit biases.

[harureads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot agree more with the quote I mentioned above. It is so easy to be part of the negative cult. I took a lot of time with this book. Do I regret it in any way? No. The content mentioned in the book is well researched. The author has put a lot of effort into researching and then penning down her thoughts.
I am glad I got the opportunity to read this book.
-Do our roots for prejudice lie in our evolutionary past?
-What happens in our brains when our biases are activated?
-How has bias affected technology?
The author has covered a lot of elements in the book, be it race politics, domination in the workplace, and many more. You can find useful information about what and how bias functions within us are necessary and why there is a need to know more about this topic. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

[Belinda Carvalho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and I loved Pragya Agarwal's writing style, the book is big and when I first saw it I worried it would be dry but not at all, I read through it so quickly. Awareness of unconscious bias has become mainstream in the past year but I hadn't thought about the many, many areas that bias can creep into, I hadn't thought of my own biases. She really delves deep into psychological studies that prove our biases and what a human flaw it is.
I'm not hugely into psychology but she made the studies seem so interesting and accessible. I enjoyed her personal anecdotes and observations as an Indian woman living and working in academia in Europe.
It is a rare book that benefits you on a personal and professional level and it helped me to grow, I think most people could get a lot out of this.

[Harikrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sway by Pragya Agarwal is a well researched and written book. It takes on a vast and complex topic of unconscious bias and tries to explain this based on neuro, cognitive and behavioural science littered with personal experiences and examples from our society. I found sections of this book similar to Daniel Kahnemans 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' and that's not necessarily to its disadvantage. With excessive footnotes and references, the book did feel, at times, like an academic research paper. However, I still think this is an important book that would educate the readers and help us understand how our implicit biases shape the world we live in and how, we as a society, need to make a conscious effort to eliminate the systemic biases that are entrenched in our society.

[Christie Bane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book down in my quest to become “woke.” Truthfully I was hoping for something a little more pop-science based on the catchy one-word title and the bright colors on the cover. Instead this was a competently-written summary of what seems like every single study that has ever been done on bias. But at the end of 400+ pages, what have I learned that’s new? Maybe a little tiny bit more about exactly how bias can be built into AI algorithms and thus perpetuate itself. Otherwise, I already knew that I have unconscious biases. What I always hope to gain from these books and never do is a magic cure for unconscious bias. All I ever get is “be more aware you have it, and talk to people about it,” and that was what I got from this one too.

[Pretty Little Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

It was a very thought provoking book. Basically from the title itself, I could infer that it had to do with the Unconscious biases and prejudices that we have against other people. The most important aspect apart from the author delving into what Unconscious Bias is and how it works, was how we can stop indulging in it, whether consciously or unconsciously. But rest assured, it is not at all boring. The language used was actually very engaging and I think it was one of the main reasons, apart from the topic itself, as to why I really read it (since I'm not really much of a nonfiction reader as you guys might already know!) it was quite an interesting read! 3.5/5⭐

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very educational read, and I'm glad that it discussed unconscious biases beyond race and gender, because other biases are sometimes just as invasive and damaging, but tend to be ignored. I thought some parts were more of an information dump, with little explanation of what the findings meant in practical terms, but overall it was well explained and made very clear. I think the author's inclusion of personal anecdotes was a particularly great touch, making the book a lot more personal and relatable. Some of this I already knew quite well from previous learning, but I think this would be a great book even for people who have no prior understanding of biases!

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really accessibly written and thorough look at the implicit biases we carry that challenges us too. Implicit bias does not let us off the hook for discrimination - the author argues compellingly that we have the ability (and a duty) to challenge our own biases and can choose not to let them guide our actions. But where the book falls flat for me is in its failure to see the systems that underpin these biases. This isn’t an individual self-improvement issue. Implicit bias is not an error or flaw - it’s by design and systemic. It’s rooted in class/caste systems, capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism.