No matter how impervious you believe you are, bias impacts every one of us. Much of the way we think and act every day is the result of various forms of bias shaping our thoughts and actions. How does it do that? The mechanics are explored in great detail in Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Dr. Pragya Agarwal.
Causing Us To Sway
Bias is a largely invisible force that sways our actions and thoughts. While we can’t completely remove it from our lives, often knowing how it shapes our decisions can help us to identify when it may have a hold on us. Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias explores the many forms of bias we experience every day and how we may be able to make better choices, despite these invisible hands that move us.
Numerous other books explore bias, with Dan Ariely and others doing experiments to highlight the ways we act irrationally. While Sway starts out by citing a number of the common studies discussed in other books on bias, it moves into real-world stories of bias in action.
Dr. Pragya Agrwal is a senior academic who has taught at US and UK universities, and while she has an extensive background in research on behavioral and data science, Sway is filled with more stories than scientific research.
The book also focuses quite a bit on bias in relation to race. How it can impact us in our business interactions and everyday lives. It’s great at highlighting an area we all want to believe we’re unbiased, while science says that’s simply not the case.
Becoming Conscious Of The Unconscious
There’s no avoiding bias. It comes in so many forms and our belief that we’re impartial leads us to be blinded by it. Only by being more aware of situations where it can sway you are we able to better identify times when you may need to take a step back and reexamine things.
Grab a copy of Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias on Amazon now and gain a better understanding of bias and the unconscious influence it has on all of us.
