August 25, 2021

Positive Bias and Affinity Bias, with Sara Taylor

Episode 95:

Positive Bias and Affinity Bias

What You Will Learn:

  • Why the increased conversation around unconscious and implicit bias is significant, and why “affinity bias” (positive bias) is often overlooked but just as influential
  • Sara shares a personal story from her daughter that illustrates the impact of positive and negative bias and responding to microaggression
  • Why positive bias can create negative reactions, and why it is important to understand positive bias in our workplaces
  • Why recognizing and responding to positive bias is an important component of bringing equity to a workplace
  • Sara shares examples of highly visible affinity bias that her family experienced while visiting the Dominican Republic
  • Why passing through Customs and Immigration was made easier by having Sara take the bags and go through before her husband
  • Why it is vital that we begin addressing affinity bias in the same ways that we address implicit and unconscious bias

Affinity Bias

About Sara Taylor

Sara Taylor earned a master’s degree in Diversity and Organizational Development from the University of Minnesota. She served as a leadership and diversity specialist at the University of Minnesota for five years and as director of diversity and inclusion for Ramsey County, Minnesota for three years.

Sara is the founder and president of deepSEE Consulting and has worked with companies as large as Coca-Cola, General Mills, 3M Company, AARP, and numerous others. She has a new book, “Filter Shift: How Effective People See the World,” that explores how our unconscious is actually making choices and decisions for us, all without our knowing — and how to change that.

How to Connect with Sara Taylor: