Similarity bias

Similarity bias is the preference or tendency to appreciate people like us. We are more likely to get along with others who are the same as us. We all gravitate toward people like ourselves in terms of appearance, beliefs and background because they make us feel comfortable and safe.

Do you resonate with the statement, "As a parent you tend to favor those who are similar to us". At work, a person who has similarity with you will have advantageous over others!

 We tend to surround ourselves with similarly-minded and even similar-looking individuals. This phenomenon is also known as “similar-to-me” bias, and its effects can be found in both our personal and professional lives.

Consider these scenarios,

1. When you go for a social gathering, how do you choose people/group to mingle with? If you find only strangers how do you choose whom to talk to first?
2. Do you have subgroups within a whatsapp group ?

In my residential society, we have a group for all residents. There are subgroups based on nativity, work domain, Tower, etc. But the real conversation happens in the subgroups of the subgroups!

How does this affect you?

This is the silent enemy of fair hiring and promotions, and can cause us to pass over qualified candidates in favor of those who most remind us of ourselves. In order to make better hiring decisions and promote workplace diversity, we need to ignore our first impressions and overcome similar-to-me or similarity bias.

If you closely observe, companies hire for diversity and manage for similarity. Even though we get diverse talent through smart hiring processes, we push these talents to "fit in" to the culture and thus push for similarity. Do you see this phenomena in your organization?

It is proven that diverse team perform better. You should mindfully create more inclusive environment for diverse talent to thrive and reach their best in their own terms and watch out for "fit in" syndrome.

Any bias can make your views or perception of the world skewed and error prone. It can affect your effectiveness in different walks of life. Being mindful or overcoming this bias is the right thing to do and smart thing to do.

I found this video very interesting and informative, please don't miss it.

If you want to read more about subconscious biases and its impact on you, read the related articles in the reference link below.

References:

1. Unconscious Biases
2. Affinity Bias
3. Confirmation Bias
4. Halo and Horns effects