Online Course
Unconscious Bias
Buying for an organization? Per-employee pricing and one company code for your whole team → For organizations
This course starts with a riddle, and most people fail it. A father dies in a crash; at the hospital the surgeon says “I can’t operate on this boy, he’s my son.” Fewer than half of people work out that the surgeon is his mother — and that, the course says, is the whole point.
Unconscious bias is what happens when your stated beliefs and your actual snap judgments come apart. The course grounds it in how the brain works: the presenters explain that you take in around 11 million pieces of information at any moment and can consciously process roughly 40, so the rest is filtered by mental shortcuts — and those shortcuts carry bias into decisions that feel entirely objective. It names where the filters come from (upbringing, media, the groups you belonged to, how you were socialized) and the conditions under which we lean on them hardest: time pressure, fatigue and stress.
It covers microaggressions with the real things people say — “I’m not racist, I have several black friends”, “Where are you really from?” — and the uncomfortable finding that we act on our biases most when we are confident we have none. Four Ogletree Deakins attorneys tell these stories against themselves rather than lecturing.
Who it’s for: every employee — and particularly useful just before any decision-heavy process: hiring, promotion, performance review.
What’s inside
1 section · 13 items
Course content
- Important Information Regarding Course Functionality · lesson
- Chapter 1 — Recognizing Unconscious Bias and Assumptions · video
- Knowledge Check: Conscious Information Processing · video
- Chapter 1 Poll · knowledge check
- Chapter 2 — Where Bias Comes From and How It Shapes Workplace Decisions · video
- Knowledge Check: Assumptions About Leadership · video
- Chapter 2 Poll · knowledge check
- Appearance Bias in Hiring · video
- Knowledge Check: Everyday Language and Microaggressions · video
- Chapter 3 Quiz a · knowledge check
- Knowledge Check: Identity-Related Microaggressions · video
- Chapter 3 Quiz b · knowledge check
- Chapter 4 — Recognizing and Interrupting Unconscious Bias · video
Common questions
What is unconscious bias, as this course defines it?
What happens when your stated beliefs and your actual snap judgments come apart. The course grounds it in how the brain works: the presenters explain that you take in around 11 million pieces of information at any moment and can consciously process roughly 40, so the rest is filtered by mental shortcuts, and those shortcuts carry bias into decisions that feel entirely objective.
When are we most likely to act on bias?
Under time pressure, fatigue and stress, and, uncomfortably, when we are most confident we have none. The course states directly that we are more likely to act on our biases when we believe ourselves to be unbiased.
Does it cover microaggressions?
Yes, with the real things people say rather than a definition, including 'I'm not racist, I have several black friends' and 'Where are you really from?'. Four Ogletree Deakins attorneys tell these stories against themselves rather than lecturing.
Which of the ten courses does my organisation need?
Everyone takes the same starting point: Sexual Harassment (Employee). Anyone who supervises people adds the Supervisor Supplement on top of it — supervisors are held to a higher standard and that course is about what to do once you know. This one is for everyone and lands hardest just before a decision-heavy stretch: hiring, promotion, performance review. You do not have to work this out per person: when your people join with your company code they give their work state and say whether they supervise anyone, and the rules assign what each of them owes from that.
Can I buy this for my whole team, and do I assign it person by person?
You can buy it for a team: set the number of seats on this page before adding to cart. And no, you do not assign it person by person — that is not how the platform works. Your people join with your company code, give their work state and city and say whether they supervise anyone, and the training rules decide what each of them owes from that — which is how a multi-state employer gets the right course to the right person without anyone maintaining a list. You hand out one code instead of picking names off a list. Seats are issued for 12 months.
Who is it for, and how is it structured?
Every employee, and it is particularly useful just before any decision-heavy process such as hiring, promotion or performance review. Four teaching chapters, four knowledge-check segments and four polls. Progress saves as you go and a certificate is issued on completion.