How do we know if we are biased?

Check-ins for You

Being aware of your biases and concerned about the consequences is the first step in trying to eliminate them. Understanding what situations trigger these biases and then finding ways to replace them can help in the long run. Here are some potential solutions:

• Lighten up: Extreme stress, a deadline hanging over your head or high emotions tend to cause biases to show up along with a lack of focus. Therefore, learn to recognize your emotions and choose the step ahead carefully. If you find it unable to be unbiased, take a step back and get back to the topic or issue later. 
• Look inwards: Think about your biases. Become aware of your feelings towards particular situations or people without reason. Think about what it felt like when you were pre-judged. Think about the conditions or environment when it occurs. You can try “counter imaging” —intentionally developing an entirely different thought or image of an opposite assessment than your first impulse suggests. 
• Get information: Having minimal or easily available information about circumstances and other individuals can lead your biases to have more power. Take the time to gather information, some available, some new. This is a good way to diminish your preconceived notions. Have genuine interaction with others who you might not normally. Ask questions. It’s surprising how much you can learn just by making the effort to go out of your comfort zone.  
• Check on yourself: We are often aware of our biases and by talking about them to others, we can understand them better. Making mistakes and showing a bias and then making efforts to correct it helps us become more aware. 
• Look back: Think about your personal circumstances, history or the situation and how they affect you and your perceptions—a bad day, a threatening environment, being late to an appointment or meeting, etc.  
• Practice empathy: We often view the world and others with a distorted lens. Practicing empathy can help us put ourselves in another person’s shoes and understand the situation from their perspective without being biased or letting prejudices colour our thinking. Empathy also helps us recognize our own biases and work towards reducing them. 
• Active listening: Practice active listening i.e. listen with full attention, ask clarifying questions and provide feedback only after genuinely understanding what the other person is saying. 
• Challenge your stereotypes: Biases are often rooted in stereotypes. To overcome stereotypical bias, recognize and challenge your perceptions, assumptions and stereotypes regarding different groups. Assume the best and change your worldview to one of positivity to appreciate the good in different people and see things in a different light.

Biases, whether implicit or explicit, are an inevitable part of being human, but they need not dictate our actions. By cultivating awareness, empathy, and active reflection, we can begin to challenge stereotypes and make fairer, more inclusive choices. Small, consistent efforts to check our biases can lead to healthier relationships, stronger trust, and a more just environment for all.