By Shannon L. McGroarty, Esq.

Raise your hand if you discriminate.

You don’t? Are you sure? Because, I do.

Outwardly, I do not believe I engage in active discrimination, and ideally, I never wanted to admit that I had preconceived beliefs, values, attitudes and perceptions, shaped by my lived experiences, that negatively influence my interactions with others and my judgment of people on the basis of their membership to a particular group.  But, yes, I have many implicit biases - scientific research has told me so, and my own introspection has led to an increased self-awareness that has become invaluable to me as an attorney, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advocate, parent and, overall, human being. 

We have been taught that having any bias is bad.  But is it?  Is it even our fault?  The Kirwan Institute for the study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University defines implicit bias as, encompassing “both favorable and unfavorable assessments, activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness.”  

In his book, Everyday Bias, Howard Ross, observes, “To be human is to be biased.” He  challenges anyone to deny unconscious bias, warning, “we believe our decisions are consistent with our conscious beliefs, when in fact, our unconscious is running the show.”  Likewise, the Kirwan Institute observed through nearly two decades of studies, that “implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse.” So, maybe we had no control over that which shaped our unconscious, but we can and should work to uncover these biases. 

Do you think you might not possess any implicit bias?  See for yourself – with an Implicit Association Test from Project Implicit.    

Project Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaborative of researchers who have dedicated the last 25 years  to producing research that forms the basis of our scientific knowledge about bias and disparities. Project Implicit’s scientists translate that academic research into practical applications for addressing diversity, improving decision-making, and increasing the likelihood that practices are aligned with personal and organizational values. The organization’s Virtual Laboratory and Implicit Association Test (IAT) are tools the organization uses to collect data and nearly 26 million IATs have been taken to date.  The IAT in particular is a profoundly in-depth resource for self-evaluation, offering a number of tests of our unconscious biases towards others based on race, age, gender, sexuality, religion and disability/ability, to name a few. 

So, you discovered that perhaps you are not hardwired as the egalitarian you thought you were?  That’s okay.

The first step in achieving unconscious/conscious homeostasis in the area of DE&I is accepting that bias is part of our normal behavior and working to unearth our propensity to discriminate against one group in favor of another presents an incredible opportunity for self-growth.  Because unconscious bias is exactly that – unconscious – our inability to be aware of our implicit perception and judgment of our world, we must train ourselves to reveal not only what we think, but how we think.  Unless we affirmatively act to discover our mindset, we cannot address it positively.

Self-awareness through introspection is a method utilized to identify unconscious biases that is significantly valuable to us as individuals. For her book Self-Awareness, a part of the Harvard Business Review’s Emotional Intelligence series, psychologist Tasha Eurich conducted extensive research concluding that cultivating self-awareness increases our confidence and creativity, enhances our relationships, while improving our decision making and communication.  While the employment-focused Emotional Intelligence series is designed to be a management evaluation and training guide, the concept of self-awareness and frequent introspection is essential to our evolution as individuals in furtherance of our understanding of diversity, advancement of equality, our desire to be inclusive as well as our need to belong in life, generally. 

There exists an infinite amount of psychological literature and research dedicated to the practice of self-awareness, and while it can be difficult to understand where to start if you wish to engage in this discipline, one thing is certain, there is no wrong approach.  Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher, founder of analytic psychology once said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” 

When we step back and realize that we are mostly running on autopilot, subject to the confines of our outdated personal narrative and worldview, I believe we all inherently want to take control.  We are attorneys. Engaging in self-evaluation gives us back that control and can have a tremendous positive impact on our practice. Understanding and identifying with our clients, jurors, our community -- strengthening our creative craft of narration, expressing and garnering empathy as strong advocates -- all depend on shedding our biases. Introspection and practiced self-awareness are essential to the practice of law and the successful advancement of DE&I initiatives in all facets of our lives.  Evaluating ‘how’ I think is vital to nearly all my social interactions now. Maintaining an unprejudiced curiosity of others is very rewarding.  The larger picture has become, for me, as a civil rights attorney, one that is painted by my clients, not my perception of my clients.  I continue to realize that until I confront the biases that reside within me, I will never accomplish understanding my client’s experience as my client’s experience.  Likewise, I strive to achieve the same respect toward my neighbor, you know, the one that I just do not understand. 

Shannon L. McGroarty, Esq. is a solo practitioner in Cherry Hill, NJ who focuses on civil rights and employment matters. She is a member of the NJAJ Board of Governors a co-chair of the NJAJ Employment Law Section and the NJAJ Employment Committee and a member of the  NJAJ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. She can be reached at SLMLawoffice@verizon.net or at 856-751-4242.