We all have biases, not that it’s something any of us would easily acknowledge. As discussed in the previous article, our brain is ruled by System 1, which I’ll remind you, makes unconscious and automatic decisions for us on a daily basis so that we don’t have to think too hard. Patterns are stored in our brains, familiar moments, things we already know, so that we can access them anytime, effortlessly.
Biases can take many forms: race, gender, culture, age, religion, sexuality, etc. It has been shown that female managers are just as likely to discriminate against a female employee as their male counterparts. And they are most likely not aware they are doing it.
The problem with biases is that they’re seen as negative, therefore no one wants to believe they can be biased. We are very good at recognising bias in others, much less in ourselves. The main reason is that we don’t like to think that we might be “bad”.
Once we think of something as true, we are way more likely to reject the input of others, even specialists and experts, because we “just know” the truth, we are right. We tend to search for, or only pay attention to, information that aligns with our beliefs, and to discard evidence that doesn’t match what we think.
Biases in design means that we design things according to our view of the world, without realising that the end user might have a totally different experience or view than us. It is very important to understand our audience, and to have a a mix of different skills and backgrounds in a team. We should also always keep in mind that our users will also have biases, and that they might not be the same as ours.
As humans, we dislike confrontations, and might be tempted to stay silent when hearing biased arguments. As designers particularly, we should try to get rid of those and point them out as they appear. In some companies, they start meetings by figuring out in which way each members of the team are biased, and keep those under consideration as they make decisions.
An example of design failing because of biases is in the creation of facial recognition softwares. Those are very good at recognising lighter-skinned males but not so great when it comes to recognising darker-skinned females. These kinds of softwares being used for law enforcement purposes, their lack of accuracy can cause innocent people to become suspects in crimes. And one of the main reasons for this has to do with the biases of the people creating the algorithms behind those softwares. Once again, it’s not like they do it on purpose.
It is particularly important to be aware and to try to get rid of biases as we move closer to AI, as those biases may become very dangerous.
We should all be conscious of our “bias blind spot”: we are all biased, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything about it. Keeping an awareness when it comes to our reactions and way of thinking is a good start. It’ll help us better ourselves and our designs.
Want to find out more? Check the links below:
The Bias Blind Spot and Unconscious Bias in Design
Combatting unconscious bias in design
6 common cognitive biases UXers should know
Are you biased? I am | Kristen Pressner | TEDxBasel
Do you want to find out more about your own biases? Take the test! Project Implicit – Harvard University
My Journey in Web Design 