BENGALURU: In Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, New York-based behavioural and data scientist Dr Pragya Agarwal looks at how implicit or unintentional biases affect the way we communicate and perceive the world. These biases also affect people’s decision-making, even in life and death situations. Excerpts from an interview:
How did you come up with the idea of Sway?
My interest in unconscious bias has been hugely shaped by my own experiences. While a major thrust of the book is scientific, I do bring some personal anecdotes to support and supplement. This book is the culmination of my own research and a deep-dive into the work done by others.
What were the main findings during your research?
We often think that unconscious bias only covers race and gender, but it is far more pervasive. Disability, sexuality, body size, profession and so on all influence the assessments we make of people, and form the basis of our relationships. For instance, a study of the 100 most popular children’s picture books of 2017 shows that male characters are twice as likely to take leading roles and are given more speaking parts than females.
Where other, non-human creatures feature in books, the gender bias is even more marked. Whenever an author reveals a creature’s sex, there is only a 27 per cent chance the character is female. In another instance, when YouTube launched the video upload feature for their app, 5-10 per cent of videos were uploaded upside-down, and for a while Google developers were baffled. Eventually they figured out it wasn’t poor design; they had only considered right-handed users. Their unconscious bias had overlooked the fact that left-handed users would turn the phone/app by 180 degrees. The book is filled with hundreds of such examples and insights.
How have you presented these thoughts in the book?
I read hundreds of scientific research papers, across psychology, evolution, neuroscience, social science, linguistics, philosophy, machine learning and AI. I also interviewed experts and looked at the current myths and misconceptions around bias. I have also included personal stories, and examples from contemporary literature and popular media. The book examines whether the roots for our biases lie in our evolutionary past, and what happens in our brains when we are biased. I discuss the ethical implications and how we can de-bias.
Is there any particular motive that, you believe, will be fulfilled through this book?
Hopefully it will help people understand that we are all biased, and be more aware of how these affect our actions and interactions. There is also a false belief that technology is unbiased. I show that it is not the case. Technology is shaped by humans, and so it is shaped by the individual and societal biases. I hope this book makes us kinder human beings, not with people who are just like us, but with everyone outside our echo chambers, and comfort zones.
What, according to you, is the major concern in the society right now?
Divisive nationalistic ideologies that are causing war and conflicts, people’s perception of climate change, and the way their behaviour can be nudged to make better decisions for our planet, are the areas of concern. And, the spread of Coronavirus has shown, how information (and misinformation) spreads and is misinterpreted, and how we communicate in virtual communities is likely to become another area of concern.