Google Unbiasing Tookit

Google has been on a multi-year journey to understand how decisions are made at work, how inclusive organizational cultures are built and sustained, and how individuals can take conscious control of their actions, behaviors, and cultural contributions. This journey has led Google to dive into the world of the unconscious mind.

Unconscious biases are the automatic, mental shortcuts used to process information and make decisions quickly. At any given moment individuals are flooded with millions of bits of information, but can only consciously process about 40. Cognitive filters and heuristics allow the mind to unconsciously prioritize, generalize, and dismiss large volumes of input. These shortcuts can be useful when making decisions with limited information, focus, or time, but can sometimes lead individuals astray and have unintended consequences in the workplace.