Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK Breaking bias Why learning how the brain works can help people overcome systemic bias BY LIZ BERNIER We all have biases that are so automatic, so ingrained in our thinking that we're not even aware of them — it's evolutionary. e good news? is bias is pos- sible to overcome — but not with- out understanding why the brain works the way it does, according to Carlos Davidovich, vice-presi- dent of executive coaching at Op- timum Talent in Toronto. Davidovich, who worked as a medical doctor for many years, now works as an executive coach in a new area known as neuro- management. Neuromanagement is about understanding how the brain works and connecting that knowledge with organizations and management strategies to optimize success. 2 systems Understanding the brain starts with understanding there are two basic systems in the brain. is is a very simple way to defi ne how the brain works and, therefore, how people behave, said Davidovich at a Strategic Capability Network event in Toronto. "System 1 is fast at making deci- sions; system 2 is slow. System 1, what it does is association of ideas; 2 is serial," he said. System 1 is implicit, eff ortless, diffi cult to control or modify, and has no self-awareness; system 2 is eff ortful, explicit, refl ective and deliberately controlled, said Davidovich. "It looks like the system 2 is al- ways running behind the system 1 because it is faster to make de- cisions. But it doesn't mean those decisions are always right," he said. "One way to see the brain is that through evolution, we didn't re- place the brain — nature was add- ing one (system) over the others." First, there is the reptilian brain — the oldest system — re- sponsible for pure instincts, said Davidovich. " e second one we share with big apes and horses — we call it the emotional brain." at emotional brain is also known as the limbic system, he said. en, there is the neocortex. "And this is the only part that makes us human beings: All the learning functions… (are) because of the neocor- tex," said Davidovich. e reptilian brain, plus the emotional brain, is called sys- tem 1. It's totally unconscious, it's something we've learned for millions of years, he said. And the rational brain is system 2. Where is bias found? e system 1-system 2 dichotomy is an oversimplifi cation, but for the purposes of understanding how bias works, it's very helpful, said Davidovich. System 1 is responsible for all of our biases and system 2 is the "lazy fact checker," he said. "We mix up all these uncon- scious inputs with what we call intuition," he said. "We are bom- barded by so many inputs. "Cognitive biases or 'mindbugs' — unconscious inference — is ingrained habits of thought that lead to errors in how we perceive, remember, reason and make decisions." People think they see the world as it is; that is not true. We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are, said Davidovich. "All of us have our own lens and there's a fi lter based on our culture, our education, our infl u- ences in the environment, and we build those biases," he said. " ose biases can have a very important purpose so I'm not saying that they're always wrong." Humans have at least 150 bi- ases that can be defi ned by name. This is n o r m a l — it's the way people connect to each other, said Davidovich. Do we need biases? When it comes to the question of whether we need biases, the an- swer is pretty simple: Of course we do. "But what for? Why do we create so many biases in our un- conscious mind? Self-protection, mainly. Better safe than sorry. And for many, many years, they were very useful. ey were use- ful to act and react fast enough to survive," he said. "It takes 100 milliseconds for the brain to decide if a person I don't know is a foe or friend." And people don't even know they are doing it — humans are much better at detecting and criticizing biased thinking and decision-making in others than in themselves. " e dynamic principle of exis- tence is survival — and with all re- spect to the audience, we are very primitive. e moment we feel fear, we run to the reptilian brain, and we start being defensive," he said. "Pleasure attracts and pain repels — it's as simple as this." It feels good to be right because it activates the reward circuitry in the brain. It feels bad to be wrong because, in that case, what is acti- vated in the brain is the centre of pain, said Davidovich. "We make judgments and deci- sions based on what feels right." So biases are involved in any sit- uation — conversations, driving, walking, shopping — and they are always there. People's brains are wired to promote fast, effi cient in- formation processing. Biases are a kind of cognitive shorthand — a fast passage to safety. In that way, they can be useful, said Davidovich. But there are also many negative consequences to bias in today's world. Negative consequences Generally, bias is so unconscious, people can't see it, he said. One example is that of the New York Philharmonic trying blind auditions to correct a massive gender imbalance, he said. " e fi rst try failed — do you know why? ey were able to hear that (the women) were wearing high heels," said Davidovich. ey tried it again, accommo- dating for that, and now the gen- der distribution is 50-50. "( e imbalance) was not about technical capacity — it was about bias and sexism." Negative consequences of bias can include hiring or promoting Credit: Macrovector (Shutterstock) "All of us have our own lens and there's a fi lter based on our culture, our education, our infl uences in the environment, and we build those biases." EMBRACE > pg. 32

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