Understanding unconscious bias | The Royal Society

[joelevansn]

Not sure people getting maths wrong is really a good illustration of unconscious bias

[pauljmeyer]

Whilst Bias is an important factor in decision making, there are social, political and economic pressures which, more often than not, influence us.

[nicoladownes]

It's not wrong to have gut feelings or unconscious biases, we should listen to them they are based on prior knowledge, and could be helpful and save your life, i.e. running from a snake if you unsure if it's poisonous or not. BUT those automatic assumptions and unconscious biases MUST be checked against evidence before a decision is made. If you rely on your 'feelings', 'pre judgements (prejudices) or unconscious bias it has devastating consequences.This stifles real talent and stops people achieving their highest potential, talent isn't found in one particular ethnic group it's peppered everywhere.

[CharlesVelazquez]

I can't believe she made this video, and did not explain what the answer to the bat and the ball is, for those who want to know, I got you, the ball actually cost $0.05 or 5 cents, reason follows if your interested (using the dollar signs btw);

The question is if the bat and the ball cost $1.10 together, and the bat is $1 more than the ball, how much is the ball?

The point about this is that unconsciously, you like me, jumped to the ball costing 10 cents. But the question said that the bat cost $1 MORE than the ball, if you don't pay attention to that bit, then you'll get it wrong. Since it's a $1 more, the ball must cost 5 cents and the bat must cost $1.05 to not only be $1 more than the ball exactly but for the two to equal $1.10

[PaulTheSkeptic]

Because of the ball costs 0.05p then the ball would cost 1.05 and that's a pound more than the ball. Took me forever to figure that out.

[deusvult]

I think its natural. Its beyond our doing. We can become aware of our subconscious bias and do our best to redirect it.

[prabalminotra]

I often find myself actively contradicting my unconscious mind. And feel like I don’t mean to say or do what I choose to do but am simply acting accordingly. It feels as bad as breaking a rule or perhaps even a feeling of hypocrisy .

[Provocateurofendtimes]

the suggestion to monitor one another for unconscious bias seems to be a problem . Studies regarding the attribution error show that people tend to base the behavior of others on internal character traits, while excusing their personal behavior to external factors.
Example:
Someone cuts you off in traffic and you think that they are inconsiderate and selfish, but when you cut someone else off it is because you are rushing to the hospital to see you dying grandmother, or you kids graduation ceremony. The external situations rationalize the behavior you find inconsiderate and selfish.

[ThePopeII]

I appreciate the fact that this video allows comments. Most videos discussing unconscious bias do not allow comments, because unconscious bias is BS.

My "training" explained that basically everything in life contributed to my "bias". My family life, every movie or TV show I ever watched, every interaction I ever had etc. My problem here is that "bias" is implied to be something bad. My life experiences shaped the person I am today. It's made me who I am. It is NOT fundamentally bad and wrong. We all have our life experiences. We all come from different points of view. We can all learn from each other. That's what diversity is all about isn't it?

Diversity is great and wonderful, except when it comes to me, and I am told I a biased, bigoted, racist and just plain wrong. Sorry, that is complete and utter BS. I am proud of who I am and where I came from.

[crag]

Although this video had some good information, ironically, it was loaded with bias

[stevemartin]

Actually, it's not 5 pence, not entirely. The actual answer is more along the lines of: "with the information provided, it's impossible to determine the actual value of the ball, though we can deduce that the ball will not cost MORE than 5 pence.
In order to work against unconscious bias, we need to ensure our decisions are based on fact. Go back to the video, at 0:41, the narrator said the bat costs £1 more than the ball, not, as many have interpreted "the bat costs exactly £1 more than the ball" such, that the ball could actually cost just 2 pence.
The bat only need cost the price of the ball at 2 pence, plus 1 pound in order to satisfy the statement, so if the ball were to cost 2 pence, and the bat 1 pound 8 pence (£1.08) then both the statements that the bat costs £1 more than the ball, and that the order total would come to £1.10 would evaluate to true.
Only if we were told that the bat costs EXACTLY £1 more than the ball, could the ball be 5 pence.
This is how the rational brain gets caught out: itself taking shortcuts based on what it THINKS it has witnessed, and then recording the memory based on this new interpretation.

[star_blazer]

_“Monitor_ each other for unconscious bias.”

Nothing like the totalitarian vigilance against wrongthink to get your point across. Reminds me of the Stasi.

[peegeebeedee]

0:07 The Unconscious Mind Is Amazing. It Can Process Vastly More Information Than Our Conscious Mind By Using Shortcuts Based On Our Background, Cultural Environment, And Personal Experiences To Make Almost Instantaneous Decisions About Everything Around Us. The Snag Is It's Wrong Quite A Lot Of The Time, Especially On Matters That Need Rational Thinking.

1:01 Our Unconscious Mind Uses Instinct Not Analysis. So Our Unconscious Is Fallible. It's Also Biased. It Makes Snap Judgments Of People We Meet. Categorizing Them According To Gender, Social, And Other Characteristics. In Milliseconds We Judge Whether Somebody Is Like Us And Belongs To Our In-Group. These Are The People We Favor.

[toastyknuckles]

i often think i'm biased towards my friends and family. it makes me wonder what is the line between loyalty and drawing the line between extremes? am i the type of person who would protect my loved ones from murdering out of blind loyalty, or would i separate myself becuz i i don't want to let others drag me down into their personal depravity? i think i'm blessed to not have to figure it out, as i'm fortunate enough to never be in a situation to be forced to find out. i don't like the idea of having to choose between being good and being loyal, as i've always wanted to see myself as both. i love my family.

[paleduards]

My fundamental concern here is what institutions decide to do with this highly personal information and what it means for the culture at work? Essentially they could call this a "are you [employees] inclined to racist thinking" test. The answer unequivocally will be a unanimous "YES".

Questions to be asked are:
Are institutions going to promote internally on the basis of bias?
Are institutions going to fire those on the basis of their bias?
Will all biases be weighted equally?
If you work in a predominantly single-colored country will the weighting on your test reflect that?
What effect will the results have on employees and office culture?

Tricky one.

[childinchrist]

X- ball
Y-bat
X+Y=1.10 a ball and bat is $1.10
Y= X+1 a bat is $1 more than a ball
So if you buy bat is the same as buying a ball but paying a dollar extra. Therefore you rewrite your first equation like this.
X + X+ 1= 1.10
Let simplify that, as you can see you are buying two balls but you paying a dollar extra.
2X+ 1= 1.10
2X=1.10-1
2X=0.10
2X/2= 0.10/2
X=O.50
A ball is 50 pence

[jaaguitar]

Royal Society is a captured institution. The nonsense they spout on Twitter etc brings shame on their long history.

[Burkhart]

It's funny the narrator says men would be more likely to listen to her if she was a man, when in fact men are more likely to listen to female voices; women were widely used as radio operators in WWII because their higher-pitched voices were easier to pick out from loud engine noise in aeroplanes.

[syd_the_sloth]

Didn’t know I was gonna get a maths lesson when clicking on this video

[marjutpaech]

Bias, a very interesting topic.

Are they really as objective as they think they are ... 💫💥💯👀💫