【HR术语】什么是亲和偏见？（What is affinity bias?）
什么是亲和偏见？
亲和力偏差，也被称为相似性偏差，是人类无意识地倾向于其他具有相似背景、兴趣和信仰的人的一种倾向。虽然我们可能会认为自己会根据他人的性格来有意识地选择与之相处，但事实上，我们在选择自己喜欢的人和希望与之相处的人时，并不善于保持客观。更多时候，人们倾向于亲近他人，只是因为他们会让自己联想到自己。
是什么导致了亲和力偏见？
我们可能会倾向于与自己相似的人，这有几个原因。
首先，与自己相似的人在一起是一种肯定。我们更有可能听到自己的观点和想法得到回应和支持，给我们一种被肯定的感觉。
同样，亲缘偏好让我们避免与其他不同的观点发生冲突，因为我们可能会觉得接受这些观点具有挑战性。
认识到亲缘偏见本质上是一种捷径也是很有帮助的，它可以让我们的大脑跳过真正的批判性思考，简单地将 "与我相似 "与 "好 "和 "值得纳入我的生活 "联系起来，从而节省宝贵的能量。
亲和偏差的影响
不幸的是，有时捷径会让我们迷失方向，而亲缘偏好也会带来一定的负面影响。由于不自觉地倾向于与我们相似的人，我们错过了认识许多迷人的、有价值的人的机会。
我们最终会反复强化自己的观点和文化信仰。缺乏差异或挑战会导致我们无法看清自己的世界观，使我们缺乏同理心和理解力，有时甚至会对与我们 "不同 "的人产生恐惧。
招聘中的亲和偏见
亲和偏见最隐蔽、最有害的地方之一就是招聘。毕竟，招聘人员、招聘经理和人力资源领导者也难免会受到无意识偏见的影响。
因此，尽管招聘团队可能认为他们在客观地选择最佳候选人，但他们可能在不知不觉中选择了那些与他们长相和思维相似、背景相似的人。这在最好的情况下有可能造成同质化的工作场所，在最坏的情况下有可能造成非包容性、歧视性的工作场所。
亲和偏见有哪些例子？
亲缘偏见会以多种方式偷偷出现在你的思维中。例如，你可能会因为某人和你上同一所大学，就认为他受过良好教育；或者因为某人曾在你工作过的同一家公司工作过，就认为他胜任某个职位。
这种思维方式会以多种方式影响组织。工作场所亲缘偏见的一些例子包括：
聘用不符合特定职位要求的候选人
放弃值得晋升的人
领导者否定不同的新想法
忽视对员工的表扬和奖励
亲和力偏见最终会损害组织的员工、公司文化和生产力。
亲和偏见与多样性和包容性之间有什么联系？
需要考虑的一个重要问题是，亲和力偏见会如何影响贵组织的 DEI&B。因为当招聘人员和领导者总是聘用、晋升和培养与自己相似的人时，就会造成员工队伍中充斥着相同背景的人，从而破坏了多样性。这种无意识的偏见是包容性的障碍之一，它使少数群体身份的人无法在各级劳动力队伍中享有平等的代表权。
如何避免亲和偏见？
由于亲和偏见的危害性很大，人力资源领导者必须意识到并积极预防和扭转亲和偏见。有几种方法可以做到这一点：
公开谈论亲和偏见，以便人们在工作中更容易识别亲和偏见
让不同背景的多人参与招聘和晋升决策
在招聘过程中采用匿名和随机的方式
为包括 C 级、人力资源、经理和团队成员在内的所有人举办无意识偏见培训
为什么现代人力资源团队应该意识到亲和偏见？
我们无法控制作为人类自然持有的无意识偏见。但是，当这些偏见会对我们组织的文化、包容性和成功产生负面影响时，我们就有责任学习如何减少亲和偏见。采取积极措施，消除我们自己的内部偏见，最终将使决策更具战略性，工作场所更加公平。
以下为文章原文：
What is affinity bias?
Affinity bias, also referred to as similarity bias, is the unconscious human tendency to gravitate toward other people with similar backgrounds, interests, and beliefs. While we may think that we actively make conscious choices to surround ourselves with people based on their character, the reality is that we aren’t very good at being objective when choosing who we like and want to be around. More often than not, people tend to gravitate towards others simply because they remind them of themselves.
What causes affinity bias?
There are several reasons why we might gravitate toward people like us.
First, being around others like ourselves is affirming. We’re more likely to hear our opinions and thoughts echoed and upheld, giving us a sense of validation.
Similarly, affinity bias allows us to avoid confrontation with other, different points of view that we may find challenging to accept.
It’s also helpful to realize that affinity bias is essentially a shortcut, allowing our brains to save valuable energy by skipping real critical thinking and simply associating “similar to me” with “good” and “worth including in my life.”
Effects of affinity bias
Unfortunately, sometimes shortcuts get us lost, and affinity bias comes with its fair share of negative impacts. By unconsciously gravitating toward people similar to us, we miss out on the opportunity to get to know many fascinating, worthwhile people.
We end up reinforcing our opinions and cultural beliefs repeatedly. The lack of difference or challenge can lead to an inability to see past our own worldview, making us less empathetic and understanding and sometimes even leading to a fear of others who are “different” from us.
Affinity bias in hiring
One of the places where affinity bias is most insidious and harmful is in hiring. After all, recruiters, hiring managers, and HR leaders are not immune to unconscious bias.
So while hiring teams may think they’re objectively choosing the best candidates, they may be picking people who look and think like them and come from similar backgrounds without even realizing it. This risks creating a homogenous workplace at best and a non-inclusive, discriminatory workplace at worst.
What are some examples of affinity bias?
There are many ways in which affinity bias can sneakily show up in your thinking. For example, you might assume that a person is well-educated because they went to the same university as you or that somebody is qualified for a role because they previously worked at the same company you did.
This type of thinking can affect an organization in multiple ways. Some examples of affinity bias in the workplace include:
Hiring candidates who are not the most qualified for a given role
Passing over deserving people for promotions
Leaders dismissing new, different ideas
Overlooking people for praise and rewards
Ultimately, affinity bias can harm your organization’s people, your company culture, and your productivity.
What’s the connection between affinity bias and diversity and inclusion?
One important thing to consider is how affinity bias can affect your organization’s DEI&B. Because when recruiters and leaders are always hiring, promoting, and nurturing people similar to themselves, it creates a workforce full of people of the same backgrounds, destroying diversity. This unconscious bias is one of the barriers to inclusivity that keeps people of minority identities from equal representation in the workforce on all levels.
What can you do to avoid affinity bias?
Because it can be so harmful, HR leaders must be aware of and actively work toward preventing and reversing affinity bias. There are several ways to do this:
Speak openly about affinity bias, so people can more easily identify it at work
Involve multiple people of different backgrounds in hiring and promotion decisions
Introduce anonymity and randomization to the recruitment process
Hold unconscious bias training for everyone, including C-levels, HR, managers, and team members
Why should modern HR teams be aware of affinity bias?
We can’t control the unconscious biases we naturally hold as human beings. But when they can negatively impact our organization’s culture, inclusivity, and success, it becomes our duty to learn how to mitigate affinity bias. Taking active steps toward dismantling our own internal biases will ultimately make for better, more strategic decision-making and a more equitable workplace.
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