Unconscious Bias

Transcript

1. Unconscious Bias @nmsanchez Spring 2015
2. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/education.html • In the menu, click “TAKE A TEST” • Read the info and click “I WISH TO PROCEED” at the bottom.
4. • Take the quiz quickly and honestly. • We will *not* be sharing results with each other. • Quiz takes ~10 min.
5. Refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. Source: Kirwan Institute Implicit = Unconscious = Hidden Bias
6. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection. Source: Kirwan Institute
7. Every second, we are receiving 11,000,000 bits of information (images, sounds, etc). Our brains can only process 40. Most of the time, we’re only consciously dealing with 16. Source: About 150 studies of the brain and its ability to process data from the senses See: http://www.quora.com/Does-the-mind-record-everything-that-comes-through-our-five-physical-senses
8. To put it in scientific terms, sh*t gets broken while your brain is sorting information. Consistent messages about associations will get stuck in there, whether you want it to or not.
9. Google Image Search: “Scientists”
10. How do you know (other than having seen the movies)? “Are these characters protagonists or villains?”
11. Blind auditions have had a significant impact on the face of symphony orchestras. About 10% of orchestra members were female around 1970 compared to about 35 percent in the mid-1990s. Blind auditions were widely adopted in the 1980s. Symphonies https://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/01/0212/7b.shtml
12. Blind Auditions (cont) One of the best examples of the power of blind auditions can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6_0n_3hSl8
13. Greg Baker Emily Walsh Jamal Jones Lakisha Washington Q: With identical resumes, who do you think received the most calls? A: Greg + Emily received 50% more calls than Jamal + Lakisha. There is little differentiation by gender. The seminal resume study Bertrand & Mullainathan (2004) http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ321/orazem/bertrand_emily.pdf
14. The good news: Implicit bias can be mitigated. The bad news: It’s hard to do alone.
15. Anger and disgust can exacerbate implicit bias in judgments against stigmatized group members even if the source of the negative emotion has nothing to do with the current situation or with the issue of social groups or stereotypes more broadly. * Remedy: “I’m not in the right frame of mind to make this decision right now.” *Source: Dasgupta, DeSteno, Williams, & Hunsinger, 2009 1: Be aware of your mental/emotional state
16. Without more explicit, concrete criteria for decision making, individuals tend to disambiguate the situation using whatever information is most easily accessible— including stereotypes.* Remedy: “I’m not clear about the problem we are trying to solve.” 2: Avoid ambiguity *Source: Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000
17. Tiring, stressful moments; loud noise; hunger; popular or political pressure about a particular decision; can adversely affect your decision-making. Specifically, situations that involve time pressure that force a decision maker to form complex judgments relatively quickly or in which the decision maker is distracted and cannot fully attend to incoming information all limit the ability to fully process information. Decision makers who are rushed, stressed, distracted, or pressured are more likely to apply stereotypes – recalling facts in ways biased by stereotypes and biased thinking in the name of expediency. 3: Refuse to engage in distracted or pressured decision-making *Source: Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000
18. In the absence of info from other people, I’m going to keep doing the same thing. Hire the same, fire the same, promote the same, etc. Bringing in diverse points of view on issues of great importance—especially where people’s jobs are affected—is critical. 4: Create checks on the system
19. 1. Your emotional state 2. The need for clarity 3. External pressures at work 4. Everyone needs checks on the system Remember: