Identify Personal Biases and How They May Interfere With Professional Activity
If you’ve ever felt certain about a client’s behavior before gathering complete information, or noticed yourself favoring one intervention over another without strong data to support it, you’ve glimpsed how personal bias works.
Personal bias is a learned or automatic inclination toward or against certain ideas, people, or groups. It can cloud judgment and lead to unfair treatment. In ABA practice, these biases show up everywhere—in how we assess behavior, choose interventions, supervise staff, and write clinical notes.
The good news is that bias is not a character flaw. It’s a normal part of how our brains process information. With awareness, structured tools, and honest reflection, you can identify and manage bias before it harms your clients or undermines your practice.
This article walks you through what bias is, why it matters in clinical work, where it shows up in everyday decisions, and practical steps you can take starting today.
What Is Personal Bias?
Personal bias occurs when our brains take mental shortcuts that distort how we interpret information. Unlike clinical judgment—the thoughtful reasoning a practitioner uses to weigh evidence and make decisions—bias is a systematic error that pushes us toward a conclusion before we have enough facts.
Think of bias as a filter on how we see the world. That filter might be rooted in our upbringing, cultural background, previous experiences, or simply how our brains naturally group and simplify information. The problem is, once that filter is in place, we tend to notice information that confirms what we already believe and ignore what challenges us.
Biases come in several forms. Cognitive bias is a systematic thinking error that affects how we judge information—for example, confirmation bias, where we search for data that supports what we already think. Affective bias is shaped by our emotions or feelings toward a person or group; we might feel more hopeful about a client we like and less patient with one we find difficult. Cultural bias arises from our cultural norms and expectations; what counts as “appropriate” eye contact or “respectful” behavior differs across cultures, and we may incorrectly label culturally different behaviors as defiant or noncompliant.
The trickiest part is that bias often operates outside our conscious awareness. You can be thoughtful, well-trained, and genuinely committed to fairness and still hold biases that influence your decisions. That’s not a flaw in you; it’s a feature of how human brains work. What matters is whether you have a system in place to catch and correct it.
Why This Matters in ABA Practice
Bias may seem like a minor issue—something that only matters in extreme cases or when someone is deliberately being unfair. In reality, bias shapes almost every clinical decision you make, and when left unchecked, it can lead to measurably worse outcomes for your clients.
Consider how bias affects assessment. During intake or when planning goals, unconscious assumptions about a client’s potential, motivation, or family support can shift which goals you prioritize. If you assume a client from a low-income background is less motivated to learn, you might set less ambitious goals without gathering evidence.
In functional behavior assessment, attribution bias can lead you to mislabel the function of a behavior. Instead of conducting a thorough assessment, you might assume a child is being defiant when the behavior actually serves a communication or escape function.
When selecting interventions, bias toward a particular approach—like a token economy “because it always works”—can blind you to data showing that method isn’t producing results for a specific client.
Bias also colors documentation and progress monitoring. If you expect a client to struggle, you might interpret ambiguous data as evidence of slow progress when it could indicate steady growth. Notes that use stigmatizing language or reflect assumptions rather than observable facts can shape how colleagues and families see that client long after you’ve moved on.
The impact extends to supervision and team dynamics. When supervisors hold biases about which staff members have potential or which clients are “hard cases,” they give biased feedback that impairs supervisee growth. Teams that don’t actively address bias make slower progress and experience higher turnover.
Perhaps most importantly, biased practice violates ethical obligations to your clients. It can lead to discrimination, reduce client autonomy, undermine informed consent, and erode trust with families and colleagues. Legally, biased decision-making can expose clinics to claims of discrimination or denial of equal protection.
How Bias Shows Up in Your Daily Work
Bias doesn’t announce itself. You won’t wake up and think, “Today I’m going to let my cultural assumptions guide my decisions.” Instead, it sneaks in at key decision points throughout a client’s care.
Intake and goal setting. During the first meeting with a family, you’re forming impressions about the client, the home environment, and what goals matter most. If you’re not intentional, biases about socioeconomic status, family structure, disability, or perceived motivation can quietly steer you toward goals the family didn’t actually prioritize. Using standardized assessment protocols and asking open-ended questions helps reduce this risk.
Functional behavior assessment and function attribution. One of the most common places bias shows up is when we interpret why a behavior occurs. A child who avoids eye contact might be showing culturally appropriate respect, but an RBT unfamiliar with that norm might label it as noncompliance. A teenager who frequently misses sessions might be avoiding the clinic, or they might face transportation barriers you haven’t investigated. Gathering data from multiple people in multiple settings reduces the risk that your initial assumption becomes the “truth.”
Intervention selection and reinforcement systems. When choosing interventions, clinicians sometimes stick with familiar tools even when data suggests a different approach would work better. This is confirmation bias—you notice the successes and overlook the plateaus. Reinforcement systems can embed bias too; if you assume a particular reinforcer motivates all clients, you’ll use it universally without checking whether it actually works for each person.
Progress data interpretation and termination decisions. When deciding whether a client is progressing or whether to discharge services, the data should speak for itself. But if you’ve decided a client is “done” or “not responding,” you might interpret ambiguous data through that lens. Running objective comparisons—before and after data, blind reviews of graphs—helps keep bias in check.
Supervision and feedback. Supervisors sometimes give harsher feedback to supervisees they perceive as less motivated or express higher expectations for staff they like more. This creates unequal development and can demoralize team members. Using behaviorally specific feedback, involving multiple people in evaluations, and checking your notes for language that reflects assumptions rather than observations all help.
Documentation and record-keeping. The words you choose in clinical notes matter. Neutral language (“increased eye contact”) differs from interpretive language (“became more attentive” or “finally cooperated”). Over time, biased notes shape how future providers see and treat your client.
Key Features of Personal Bias
Understanding the hallmarks of bias helps you spot it in your own practice.
Bias is often automatic and outside your conscious awareness. You don’t decide to have a bias; it operates silently in the background, influencing what you notice and how you interpret it. This is why good intentions aren’t enough—you need concrete tools and structures.
Bias influences interpretation of ambiguous behavior. When a behavior or situation is unclear, your biases fill in the blanks. Was the client being disrespectful or communicating distress? Your bias determines which answer you land on. Clear operational definitions and multiple sources of data help reduce this ambiguity.
Biases can be rooted in race, culture, gender, disability status, socioeconomic background, or theoretical preference—in short, almost any characteristic or belief.
Perhaps most importantly, bias persists even when contradictory data exists. This is why a one-time training or a single conversation rarely fixes bias. Once a bias is in place, we tend to notice and remember information that confirms it while discounting disconfirming information. Ongoing, structured checks are necessary.
It’s also important to distinguish bias from legitimate clinical preferences. If you prefer a particular intervention because you have evidence it works well with your client population, that’s informed practice. That preference should be clearly justified with data and disclosed to your team and clients. True bias, by contrast, persists even when the data don’t support it.
Personal values are different from bias. You may value cultural respect, family autonomy, or a particular theoretical approach. Those values are legitimate and often important to disclose. Bias, by contrast, is a distortion that clouds your ability to see what’s actually happening with your client.
Recognizing Bias in Real Scenarios
Real examples make this concrete. Here’s what bias looks like in practice and how to respond.
An Eye Contact Bias in a Cross-Cultural Setting
An RBT begins working with a young child from a cultural background where direct eye contact with an adult is considered disrespectful. The RBT notices the child avoids her gaze during instruction and, without asking the family about cultural norms, assumes noncompliance. The RBT targets “increased eye contact” as a priority goal and begins reinforcing eye contact when it occurs. Over weeks, the child becomes anxious during sessions.
This is bias in action. The RBT’s assumption about what “appropriate” eye contact means has led to a goal that contradicts the family’s values and the child’s cultural background.
The corrective steps are straightforward: ask the family directly about eye contact norms in their culture, review the data on whether anxiety or other metrics have worsened, and adjust the goal to respect the child’s cultural context while still addressing genuine communication barriers if they exist.
Confirmation Bias and the Token Economy
A BCBA has used token economies successfully with many clients and believes firmly that they’re universally effective. When implementing one with a new client, the BCBA notices modest gains in task completion but interprets them as evidence the system is working. When the family reports frustration with token systems, the BCBA assumes they’ll “come around” with more time. Six months later, task completion has plateaued, but the BCBA remains convinced the approach is sound.
Here, confirmation bias—the tendency to notice successes and overlook lack of progress—has prevented an objective evaluation.
The remedy: run a simple A-B comparison, measuring task completion before and after introducing the token economy, blinded to which phase is which. Share the data with the family and team, and be willing to pivot if the numbers don’t support the approach.
Bias Beyond ABA: What We Can Learn
Bias isn’t unique to behavior analysis. Across healthcare, education, and human services, similar patterns emerge.
A teacher encounters a student from a low-income neighborhood and, consciously or not, holds lower academic expectations. The student receives less feedback, fewer challenging questions, and lower grades despite similar performance to peers. Over time, the student’s motivation actually declines because they’ve absorbed those lower expectations. This parallels how bias operates in ABA: our expectations shape what we notice, how we intervene, and ultimately what clients achieve.
In medical settings, a provider dismisses pain reports from a particular racial or ethnic group, attributing them to drug-seeking rather than assessing objectively. The result is undertreatment and harm. Similarly, in behavioral health, biased dismissal of a client’s report can lead to missed needs and inappropriate intervention.
These examples illustrate a universal principle: bias narrows our vision and leads to worse outcomes when we don’t actively work against it.
Common Mistakes Clinicians Make
Several misconceptions enable bias to persist in practice.
“I don’t have biases.” This is the most dangerous belief because it prevents you from ever checking yourself. Everyone has biases; they’re a normal part of human cognition. The goal isn’t to achieve a bias-free state but to develop habits and tools that catch bias before it affects your decisions.
“Bias only matters when it’s obvious or intentional.” Many people imagine bias as overt prejudice or deliberate discrimination. In reality, subtle cognitive biases—confirmation bias, attribution errors, expectancy effects—shape decisions every day and can be equally harmful. A small systematic error repeated across dozens of clients compounds into real harm.
“Bias training is a one-time fix.” Workshops and training can increase awareness, but awareness alone doesn’t change behavior. Bias is resistant to change; it requires ongoing, structured checks and a supportive culture that makes bias-catching normal rather than shameful.
Ethical Obligations and Transparency
As a behavior analyst, you’re bound by professional ethics codes to practice fairly and transparently. This obligation has several components.
You must use evidence-based decision-making, which means integrating research, your expertise, and your client’s values. Letting bias substitute for data violates this duty.
You must protect client dignity and autonomy, which means avoiding discrimination and ensuring clients make truly informed choices—not choices based on biased assumptions you’ve made about their preferences or capabilities.
You have a duty to assess your own competence and seek supervision when you’re unsure whether bias is affecting your work. If bias impairs your ability to provide objective care, you have an ethical obligation to refer the client to a more objective provider.
You must document transparently, using neutral language that describes facts rather than interpretations, and being clear about the limitations of your observations.
Finally, you should disclose relevant values and preferences to your clients and team. If you have a theoretical preference or a concern that your background might color your judgment, naming it openly allows others to help you stay honest.
Practical Steps You Can Take Now
You don’t need a perfect system to reduce bias. Small, concrete practices make a difference.
Ask for a second opinion. When you’ve formed a strong conclusion about a client, present the data to a colleague and ask, “What are you seeing that I might be missing?”
Use multiple informants and settings. Don’t base your understanding of a behavior on observations from one person or one place. Functional behavior assessments involving the client, family, teachers, and other staff reveal patterns that single-observer bias might obscure.
Run blind data checks. When reviewing progress data, cover up the client’s name and any contextual information that might bias your interpretation. Do the numbers alone tell the story you expected?
Use structured decision rules. Instead of relying on judgment alone, create a simple checklist or rubric for decisions (e.g., “We change interventions if data show no progress for four consecutive weeks”). This removes the pressure of in-the-moment judgment and makes decisions more consistent.
Keep a reflective journal. At the end of each week, jot down clients or situations where you felt strong certainty, defensiveness, or frustration. Often, these moments flag where bias is operating.
Involve your clients and families. Ask explicitly, “Is this working for you?” and “What are we getting right or wrong?” Clients and families will often notice bias you don’t; their perspective is data.
Use neutral, observable language in your notes. Instead of “the client was resistant,” write “the client declined to enter the room.” Instead of “the parent was unmotivated,” write “the parent attended three of eight scheduled sessions and reported work conflicts on two cancellation dates.”
Common Questions About Bias in Practice
How do I know if I have a personal bias affecting my work? Watch for patterns: Do you consistently have strong, premature conclusions about certain clients? Do you get defensive when data suggests a different interpretation? Do you find yourself recommending the same intervention repeatedly regardless of individual fit? Do certain characteristics correlate with your predictions about client success? These are red flags worth exploring with supervision.
What should I do if I suspect my bias affected a case? Acknowledge it, consult your supervisor, review the relevant data, and document what you’ve learned. If the bias affected the client’s care, transparent communication with the family is usually appropriate: “I realize I may not have gathered enough information about your culture and how that shapes communication in your family. Here’s what I’d like to do differently.”
Are some biases unavoidable? Yes. Biases are common and often automatic, especially early in assessment or when you’re tired or stressed. The goal isn’t to erase bias but to build habits that catch it before it hardens into practice. Regular supervision, data review, and stakeholder involvement are your safety net.
How do I discuss bias with families without sounding accusatory? Use non-blaming language focused on shared goals. “I want to make sure I understand your priorities and your family’s background because I don’t want to miss what matters most to you” opens a conversation. Asking open-ended questions invites honest information instead of confirming your hypothesis.
What if I realize my bias is affecting my standard of care? This is the time to refer. If your biases about a client’s prognosis, background, or characteristics are preventing you from viewing them objectively or from providing evidence-based care, it’s ethical and professional to transfer care to a colleague. Document the clinical reason and ensure a warm handoff.
Bringing It Together: Your Next Steps
Personal bias is not a character flaw; it’s a cognitive reality. What matters is whether you have a system in place to identify it, manage it, and correct course when it occurs.
Start by acknowledging that bias is normal and that you have it. The humility to admit you might be wrong is the first step. Then, build structures—multiple informants, blind data reviews, reflective practices, and regular supervision—that catch bias before clients are harmed.
Document your thinking transparently. Use neutral language. Ask families and clients directly what they need. Involve colleagues in your toughest decisions. When you discover bias has affected your practice, acknowledge it, learn from it, and change.
This is what ethical, client-centered ABA practice looks like: not perfection, but honest reflection, openness to correction, and a genuine commitment to seeing clients clearly and treating them fairly.
