What Is Unconscious Bias and Where Does It Come From?

Have you ever caught yourself making a snap judgment about someone, only to later realise it wasn’t fair? That’s unconscious bias at work. It’s a deeply human tendency—one that shapes our decisions, often without us noticing.

Unconscious bias (sometimes called implicit bias) refers to the automatic associations and shortcuts our brains make about people or groups. Unlike overt prejudice, which is deliberate, unconscious bias operates quietly in the background. You might consciously believe in equality, but still react in biased ways because of learned associations stored in memory.

Psychologists like Patricia Devine demonstrated this paradox in the 1980s: people can sincerely reject prejudice at a conscious level, yet still show bias in their behaviour. That’s because bias isn’t just about values—it’s about habits of thought.

Why does bias happen in the first place? Our brains are wired to take shortcuts. With endless information bombarding us daily, we rely on mental habits to make quick decisions.

Neuroscience explains this through three systems in the brain:

• The primitive brain scans for survival threats and safety, putting people and things into “helpful” or “harmful” categories.

• The emotional brain stores memories and past experiences, colouring how we feel about people or groups.

• The thinking brain handles reasoning—but it often bends to fit what we already believe.

Surprisingly, intelligence doesn’t make us less biased. In fact, studies show that the better people are at math, the harder they find it to solve problems that contradict their political beliefs. In other words, being smart can make us even better at defending our blind spots.

Bias isn’t just a brain glitch—it’s also a cultural inheritance. From childhood, we absorb messages about gender, race, ability, and more through media, family, and institutions. These become “truths” we don’t question. If you’ve never had meaningful contact with a certain group, your mind still forms expectations—usually based on stereotypes, not reality.

Sometimes, we even turn these stereotypes inward. Researchers call this internalised bias: when members of marginalised groups absorb the same negative messages about themselves. It shows just how deeply cultural narratives shape our identities.

The good news? Bias is learned—which means it can be unlearned. Studies on “habit-breaking” interventions show that with awareness and practice, people can reduce their biases over time.

Techniques include:

• Stereotype replacement: catching yourself using a stereotype and replacing it with accurate information.

• Perspective taking: imagining the world from another person’s viewpoint.

• Counter-stereotypic imaging: bringing to mind examples that contradict common stereotypes.

These methods don’t erase bias overnight, but they give us tools to retrain our mental habits.

Unconscious bias doesn’t just live in individual minds—it shapes workplaces, schools, healthcare, and justice systems. A small bias in hiring decisions, for example, can ripple out into entire industries, affecting who gets opportunities and who doesn’t. That’s why understanding its origins isn’t just an academic exercise—it’s a step toward fairer systems and healthier communities.

Learn more about how I help people change unconscious bias through coaching.