In my last post on aging, I asked the question; Do we all have an unconscious bias about age?
Now, I'm about to write about this subject and I'm not a behavioural scientist or any other kind of psychological expert. I only know, and I think you would agree, that we all have our own biases or prejudices, and some of them may be so deep rooted that we don't even know we have them. I think this is where the "unconscious" part comes in. I can't seem to find an official definition out there, but the best one I came across was from a researcher at Warwick University in the UK:
"Unconscious bias refers to a bias that we are unaware of, and which happens outside of our control. It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgments and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences."
One other thing to note... this is a hot topic in many organizations who want to have strong focus on establishing a more diverse and inclusive work environment; where differences are celebrated and actually leveraged for the greater good of the company. I personally think it is brilliant. My previous employer did a fantastic job of embracing diversity and offering training so we would better understand our biases. Their program broadened my mind about the benefits of diversity and celebration of our differences. There were activities and networking events designed to elevate and educate on different cultures, women, people with disabilities, and LGBT employees. During Diversity and Inclusion week there would be tables set up in the main lobby; each representing a different group. There would be food, dancing, arts, you name it. So cool!
This was all so wonderful. I would only ask one thing... but I do fear you may believe this question is premature. Maybe, just maybe this isn't seen as a real problem in many people's eyes. Anyway here's the question; shouldn't age be represented as one of these diversity groups? I mean my employer was cutting edge in all of this, so if they're not doing it, who is? And I have to ask another question, if gender equality is still an issue, what does it mean if you are now an aging woman in the workforce? Wow, double whammy! I don't have the statistics. I am only working from anecdotes and my personal experience and paranoia. I certainly don't want to create a problem that isn't there, and honestly I'm only 50. This should really not be an issue for me... yet!
Here's the thing; I can see it on my horizon. I want to continue to work. I know I will need to work well into my 60s and possibly 70s for financial reasons alone. The simple fact is, many of us are needing to work into ripe old age. This is a reality. In fact, just the other day, Steven Poloz (Governor of the Bank of Canada) said that those of us getting older should re-set our expectations and expect to be working longer considering we are living longer. We are also in a low interest rate, slow growing, economic environment. This has become our new normal. As an aging adult I want to work as long as I'm healthy enough to do so. My father-in-law worked to the ripe old age of 83 as a physician! Why can't I? Believe it or not, I like working. (Well, I like writing these blogs too. It's very cathartic, fun and rewarding, but it doesn't pay me so I still need work.)
Okay, I have digressed a little bit. I need to get back on topic. Do we all have an unconscious bias about age?
I know I did, and here's why. Although I immersed myself completely into diversity awareness at work; taking the training and attending the diversity awareness sessions, not once did I think about age in the diversity equation. Not once! Age was never brought up in any of the discussions I took part in, and I personally didn't think about it because I didn't consider myself old, and therefore couldn't even relate to there being a potential bias or problem in the first place. It simply wasn't on my radar, and if it's not on our radar, it won't be discussed, and everyone will remain unaware, and potentially biased about age.
I look back now at all the people I've hired through-out my career. I can honestly say I was biased. I hired people like me or often younger. Maybe of the people I hired, all were still the best qualified for the job, because in the end that should trump everything (strange how using the word "trump" feels weird now), but I don't know if I hired the best person for the job because I believe I unconsciously dismissed the older guy. I know I did because I can recollect one instance in particular. If I had age on my radar, maybe I would have considered everyone equally.
So now I'm wondering, now that I'm 50, do I still have the same bias towards age? Well I took a test. It's amazing what you can find on the internet. Harvard University is conducting a research project called Project Implicit (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/education.html). From this site, you can take the Implicit Association Test which "measures attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report". You can take 13 different tests, each on a different subject area, from gauging your unconscious bias on weapons, sexuality, gender equality, to age. Since this is all about age, guess which test I took?
The test starts out with you stating what your belief is about age. I stated that I believed both the young and the old should be viewed equally. I then proceeded with the test. Pictures are provided of young and old along with positive and negative words. Only it's presented in a complicated way. It's difficult to explain so you really need to take the test to get the gist. At the end of the test, I got my result. It said:
"Your data suggests no automatic preference between Old people and Young people."
Wow! I must have grown over the years. The subject matter is also top of mind for me right now so I guess it might make sense, but then that throws the whole unconscious thing out the window. Anyway, I accepted my results. I then asked Megan, who's 27, to take the test. She is atrophy of me’s web guru and social media extraordinaire. Her result stated:
“Your data suggests moderate automatic preference for young people over old people”.
She didn’t expect that. I guess there is something to this unconscious thing. She also said she found the reality a little uncomfortable and would have to re-evaluate her own prejudices. Thank you Megan for putting yourself out there.
So now I have a challenge for all of you. Take the test. Find out where you stand on age. Do you have a preference between young or old? Feel free to forward this on to your family members and friends; young and old. The intent of this exercise is to create awareness for all of us, and to see if our conscience mind aligns with our unconscious mind. Let me know your results.…I’m very curious. :-)