Summarize the following information to three sections. Have you ever made a decision based on your first instinct? Or on a past positive or negative experience? These decisions could be guided by your unconscious bias. 

In the previous modules, we introduced what unconscious bias is and how two common types, similarity and attribution biases, impact team effectiveness.

In this module, we will develop a better understanding of how experience and expedience biases can affect our judgment and decision making. We will also review some tools to disrupt these types of bias when they occur.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
•	Examine how unconscious bias can impact our decisions
•	Recognize how expedience and experience biases can affect our judgment, and
•	Identify practical actions to make less biased decisions.
Did you know that there were no women on the teams that built the first crash test dummies for cars? 

As a result, the dummies used to test car safety were built according to the shape and size of the average European man. This has led to more accidental and avoidable deaths of women than men over the years.
If we are trying to build solutions to the world’s problems, we need organizations that are representative of the world’s population.

The crash test dummy example reflects the long-term impact unconscious bias can have on our decisions.
While there are many types of unconscious bias that affect our judgment and decision making, we will focus on two of the most common types.

Select each tab to learn more about expedience and experience biases.

Expedience bias occurs when we:
•	Make a decision based on what comes to mind most quickly
•	Seek evidence that confirms our pre-existing beliefs and ignore information that does not, or
•	Rely on past experiences, mental categories, or stereotypes that seem similar in a new situation.

Experience bias occurs when we:
•	Assume everyone else thinks the way we do
•	Overestimate how much others agree with us
•	Believe our thoughts and intentions are clear and obvious to others, or
•	Can identify unconscious bias in others but do not in ourselves.
Let’s check your understanding. 

You need a peer to review your work before a deadline. You choose someone you know well and who is part of the project team instead of someone who will challenge your perspective.

Is this scenario an example of expedience or experience bias? Select the best option.

•	Expedience bias
•	Experience bias

It is expedience bias. 

Involving someone else to check our decisions is a great way to get different perspectives. However, by including someone whom we know agrees with us, we are not actually gathering different perspectives but seeking support for our pre-existing beliefs, which can indicate expedience bias. 

Select the arrow buttons to navigate. 


While creating a marketing campaign for a new product, you do not validate your approach with your team. You have worked together before and assume they will agree with you.

Is this scenario an example of expedience or experience bias? Select the best option.

•	Expedience bias
•	Experience bias

It is experience bias.

By assuming that others will support our approach because we like it, we may overestimate how much others will agree with us and think the way we do. This is where experience bias comes into play. 


Your team has a new project. They have worked on a similar project before, so you assume you do not need to outline this new project’s requirements.

Is this scenario an example of expedience or experience bias? Select the best option.

•	Expedience bias
•	Experience bias

It is experience bias.

Although the team has worked on a similar project together before, they may require further clarity on this new project’s requirements. When we believe our thoughts and intentions are clear to others and do not validate this assumption, we demonstrate experience bias.


You meet someone for the first time and automatically assume they are religious because they come from the same culture as a friend of yours.

Is this scenario an example of expedience or experience bias? Select the best option.

•	Expedience bias
•	Experience bias

It is expedience bias.

Expedience bias can unintentionally lead to a wrong assumption. Relying on past experiences, mental categories, or stereotypes that seem similar can help us make sense of a new situation. However, it can also cause us to jump to a conclusion based on what comes to mind most quickly, which can be false.

Select the Next button to navigate to the next slide.
We cannot “catch” ourselves being biased. The act of disrupting our expedience and experience biases takes a conscious effort. Practicing awareness by acknowledging our unconscious bias and how it affects us can help us question our mindset and behaviors when making decisions.

Select each card to reveal how you can start to disrupt expedience and experience biases.

Examine our assumptions. This helps us understand ourselves and why we think the way we do.

If we have a strong reaction to someone or if they have a strong reaction to us, ask ourselves why. Slow down, suspend fast judgment, and take the time and space to process.

Include and seek input from people with a variety of backgrounds and different perspectives.

Now that we know how to disrupt these biases, let’s put our knowledge to the test using an example.
Tonnie has a high-profile project to implement a new technology for a school district that serves specific marginalized communities.

Tonnie chose Beatriz as the project manager because they assumed she is representative of the ethnic groups in that school district. When asked about their decision, Tonnie shared that they chose Beatriz because she was a “great fit” and “spoke the language.”
What could Tonnie have done differently if they activated their behavior of practicing awareness? 

Choose the best answer or answers and select Submit.

•	Evaluate the project requirements against each person’s skills
•	Review their decision with someone outside of the team
•	Examine their assumptions, reflecting on why they chose Beatriz 
•	Observe the client’s requirements 

The best answers are evaluating the project requirements, reviewing their decisions, and examining their assumptions. 

Self-awareness can help us gain insight into the limits of our point of view. By questioning their first decision, Tonnie may have re-evaluated their choice. 

Getting an outside perspective could also help Tonnie identify if their choice was based on an assumption unrelated to the 
project requirements. 
Take a moment to recall a decision you made at work recently.

1.	What was the outcome? 
2.	As you reflect on the concepts in this module, could your decision have been impacted by either expedience or experience bias?
3.	What actions could you take next time to disrupt these forms of unconscious bias? 

Note your thoughts in the learning guide, which can be accessed via the Resources tab.
Here are the key learnings from this module:
•	Expedience and experience biases are two types of unconscious biases that can have a significant impact on our judgment and decisions.
•	Acknowledging our unconscious bias and how it affects us can help us question our mindset and behaviors when making decisions.
•	We can start to practice awareness by examining our assumptions, slowing down, and seeking input from people with different perspectives.