Abby Monroe, who leads our Nonprofit Connection, recently organized a workshop on unconscious bias and how to separate it from prejudice. The event featured a presenter from Human Weber Services.

The presenter explained that prejudice involves strong beliefs not based on facts but rather on perceptions, whereas unconscious bias stems from perceptions that we are unaware of. This raised the question: how do we uncover these hidden biases? To start, the presenter delved deeper into the concept of unconscious bias through some engaging exercises. 

Consider, for instance, the iceberg analogy: the tip represents what we consciously know, while the much larger portion below the water symbolizes the unconscious biases that influence our thoughts and actions without us realizing it. 

• Exercise: The Father and Son Riddle A father and son were in a car accident, and the father was killed. The son was rushed to the hospital for immediate surgery. In the operating room, the surgeon looked at the boy and said, "I can't operate on him; he's my son." Who is the surgeon? Answer: The surgeon is his mother. Did you guess correctly? This riddle highlights how powerful automatic associations can be, such as the common association between the word "surgeon" and men. 

So, where does unconscious bias come from? It can originate from various sources, including: 

• Education: The attitudes we learn as children can become deeply embedded in our minds. 
• Family: Our families provide our initial worldview. 
• Mass Media: The news we consume, books we read, TV shows we watch, and radio we listen to all shape our perceptions. 
• Culture: Our values, beliefs, and morals tell us how to live our lives. Personal Experiences: The places we’ve been and the people we’ve met also influence our biases. 

Here are some key facts about unconscious biases: We experience them every day. They operate automatically. They are hard-wired and deeply embedded in our minds. No one is immune to them. They are most active when we are tired, stressed, angry, or emotional.

Nonprofit Connection offers many learning opportunities like this one for nonprofit professionals to increase their capacity and capability. Here are some upcoming events: 

October 30, 2024: Increased Learning - The Value of Networking

November 12, 2024: Increased Learning - HR Essentials for Nonprofits

Learn more about UWNU's Nonprofit Connection here: uwnu.org/npc