Affinity bias occurs when you allow your personal similarities to another individual to influence your behavior. In the professional world, it’s important to understand affinity bias and the ways it may alter your thinking. This may allow you to make more rational decisions, which can have a beneficial impact on the quality of your work performance. In this article, we discuss what affinity bias is, provide examples of how it can affect you professionally and list ways of overcoming affinity bias to make better choices.

What is affinity bias?

Affinity bias is a natural inclination to favor people affiliated with your thoughts and beliefs. This can occur with elements you chose, such as an individual who shares your favorite hobbies, and elements outside of your control, such as a person who grew up in similar circumstances to you. Shared experiences may make it easier to form bonds with those individuals. However, if those bonds result in you making decisions based on similarities, such as choosing a friend for your team over a more qualified coworker, it may have a negative impact.

Examples of affinity bias

Affinity bias may impact you when you’re interacting with other employees with whom you share common bonds. These examples show how a professional may allow affinity bias to affect their decisions and the positive steps they could take to overcome this bias:

Affinity bias in hiring

A human resources manager is leading the hiring process at a computer software company and has reached the resume screening phase. Fifteen candidates apply to the position, but the hiring professional only has time to interview five. When analyzing the resumes of the candidates, the human resources manager encounters a resume from an employee who attended the same university as the hiring professional. This shared experience can help to form a connection between the human resources manager and this candidate, and it may make them more likely to choose the candidate as one of the five options.To counter their natural affinity for a fellow alumnus of their university, the human resources manager assesses the candidates’ resumes while treating the university as if it were a comparable one with which they do not have personal connections. After reviewing the resume in this form, and comparing it with other candidates for the position, the human resources manager identifies five preferable candidates to move on to the interview phase of the process.

Affinity bias in promotions

A team leader at a pharmaceutical company receives a promotion, creating a vacancy for a new junior management employee. The company hires from within and entrusts the promoted employee to choose their replacement. As team leader, they formed personal connections with their various employees, with one employee sharing many of the promoted employee’s favorite hobbies. This allowed them to form strong personal connections outside of their professional bonds. Although the promoted team leader feels that the coworker they have the strongest bonds with would be an excellent option, they are not the only viable candidate.After narrowing the field of candidates down to two options, the promoted team leader creates a list of reasons each might be the preferable option and presents it to another senior member of the staff. This allows the other staff member to opine without the affinity bias the promoted individual may hold. After the consulted coworker agrees the first employee is the best fit, the promoted team leader can choose the employee they are close with for the position without basing it on an affinity they hold.

Affinity bias in idea generation

A television production company performs an internal assessment and determines that its marketing department has many similar employees. To increase the number of perspectives available within the room and more effectively meet the needs of a broader range of consumers, the company performs a diversity effort in its hiring. Although this helps to diversify the individuals in the room, the company also assesses the potential for affinity bias.To ensure that individuals with less in common with the supervisors in the department share their opinions and ideas, the company institutes policies encouraging employees to share during department meetings. Senior members of the team also attempt to listen to the opinions of those with differing experiences and interests. This allows for more diverse opinions and discussions, which can help the company avoid affinity bias and create more effective marketing materials.

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