Now let’s take a moment to analyze this scenario. Dr. Hadley responded the way she did due to implicit biases, which are unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that affect our actions and decisions without us being aware of them. Various factors, including cultural norms, personal experiences, media representations, and societal conditioning, can shape implicit biases. There are different types of implicit biases and in this scenario, several biases influenced Dr. Hadley’s response: ● Racial Bias: Dr. Hadley may have unintentionally held stereotypes or assumptions about black patients, leading her to subconsciously perceive their symptoms as less credible or severe compared to white patients. It is highly probable she didn't take his complaints as seriously as she might have for a patient of a different race. ● Confirmation Bias: Dr. Hadley might have been influenced by confirmation bias, which occurs when someone seeks or interprets information in a way that confirms their preexisting beliefs or assumptions. Since
Mr. Michaels had presented with vague and non-specific symptoms before, she may have been inclined to interpret his current complaints in a way that aligned with her previous impression of him, further downplaying the significance of his symptoms. ● Anchoring Bias: Anchoring bias occurs when a person relies too heavily on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions. Dr. Hadley had seen Mr. Michaels before with normal test results, and this initial information might have anchored her thinking, making her less receptive to considering alternative or more serious diagnoses during subsequent visits. ● Gender Bias: Though not explicitly mentioned in the scenario, gender bias could also play a role in Dr. Hadley's response. If she had different attitudes towards male and female patients, it might have influenced how she perceived and responded to Mr. Michaels’ symptoms. Now, let’s take a deeper look into biases, how they develop and how we can mitigate their potential consequences.
DEVELOPMENT OF BIASES
Video: Recognizing, Combatting, and Addressing Implicit Bias
Video: How Implicit Bias Affects Career Progression
Biases are preconceptions in acceptance of or against, for example, a person, race, gender, weight, or nationality (Norwood, 2022). Most personal biases are subconscious, learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and stereotypes. These unconscious biases significantly affect our decision making in daily interactions. About 90% of the brain’s processing is done unconsciously (i.e., implicit thinking), meaning the brain processes only a relatively small portion of the information it receives consciously, which powers our long-term memory and critical thinking (i.e., explicit thinking). While implicit bias is not a realized bias, explicit bias is a known, straightforward bias. Explicit biases, positive or negative, and the consequences of the biases being intentional. Video: Conscious Mind
It is significant to note that everyone has biases. Biases are not new and are formulated from the surroundings we interact with daily, from family and other people, literature, audio and visual cues, news outlets, and institutions (Greenwald et al., 2022). Researchers suggest that most biases develop between infancy and childhood by favoring the familiar as a protective mechanism. What is familiar is safe, and what is foreign should be assumed to be dangerous until proven otherwise (Cardiology, 2020). How to prevent the development of implicit biases is unknown, as evidence has shown that even in households where parents have nondiscriminatory beliefs and practices, children still passively acquire the perspectives of their society (Greenwald et al., 2022). The term implicit hints at something being indirect, while bias is a prejudice for or against something or someone. Regardless of who we are, for example, our gender, ethnicity, or educational level, we have all experienced the repercussions of implicit bias at some point in our life. Implicit Bias: A bias you are unaware of that leads to unintentional outcomes such as disparities and inequalities in treatment Explicit Bias: A bias of which you are aware, and the outcomes are intentional in causing disparities and inequalities in treatment. (Witter, 2022) To see an example of how implicit bias can affect career progression, take a few minutes to view this video.
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