Let's Talk About Bias and Inclusion
In the United States, when we cross the street, we instinctively look to the left to check for oncoming traffic. When US travelers visit London or one of the many other countries where drivers keep to the left side of the roads, often times they will look left and erroneously assume that no traffic is coming.
Bias is not a bad word
Unfortunately for progress, the word 'bias' (defined as a systematic error in thinking that can influence our behaviors) is connoted as a bad word. Because of this connotation, many people are unwilling to acknowledge that they in fact have several biases, and in turn, are unable to learn from them.
We must first let go of the idea that bias = bad. Then we must explore and acknowledge our own biases. THEN we can train ourselves to choose our behavior given the understanding of our biases.
We All have Biases
Bias is rooted in psychology, and it describes our natural ability to take past experiences, knowledge, or understanding and use them to form our worldview and preferences. Often times, we are unaware that our biases exist but if I ask you ten different times to sign your name, you will likely use the same hand each time. If I were to ask you if you could sign with the other hand, you would like think or say, "no." But you can. It may not look like what you want it to, but you can. In this case, we have a bias (or preference) toward our dominant hand.
