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Implicit Bias

Learn about Project Implicit and implicit social cognition research. Discover how to address hidden biases for informed decision-making. Find strategies to recognize, challenge, and counter implicit biases in practice.

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Implicit Bias

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  1. Implicit Bias October 14, 2016 Presented by: Anne Marie Seibel

  2. Ignore the Letters, Call Out the Colors in the Columns

  3. Ignore the Letters, Call Out the Colors in the Columns

  4. Ignore the Letters, Call Out the Colors in the Columns

  5. Implicit Association Test • www.projectimplicit.com • Project Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a “virtual laboratory” for collecting data on the Internet. • Project Implicit was founded in 1998 by three scientists – Tony Greenwald (University of Washington), MahzarinBanaji (Harvard University), and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia).

  6. Implicit Association Test Results

  7. Explicit v. Implicit “Leading social science researchers have conducted hundreds of studies which establish that people can possess attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices in the absence of intention, awareness, deliberation, or effort.” • FN: John T. Jost et al, The Existence of Implicit Bias Is Beyond Reasonable Doubt, 29 Res. In Organizational Behav. 39, 42-43 (2009)

  8. No One Is Immune From the Influence of Implicit Bias “All of us have implicit biases to some degree. This does not necessarily mean we will act in an inappropriate or discriminatory manner, only that our first ‘blink’ sends us certain information. Acknowledging and understanding this implicit response and its value and role is critical to informed decision-making and is particularly critical to those whose decisions must embody fairness and justice.” Malcom Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005).

  9. Exemplar Studies – Litigation Associate Memos • Review of memos of hypothetical third year litigation associate. • Memos had identical 22 errors. • Half of the partner reviewers were told author was African-American; half were told author was Caucasian. • Arin N. Reeves, Nextions, Yellow Paper Series 2011-14, Written in Black & White: Exploring Confirmation Bias in Racialized Perceptions of Writing Skills, Nextions (2014)

  10. Hypothetical Memo of Associate • Name Thomas Meyer Thomas Meyer • Seniority 3rdyear 3rdyear • Alma Mater NYU Law School NYU Law School • Race/Ethnicity African American Caucasian • Overall • memo rating 3.2 out of 5 4.1 out of 5 • Number of • spelling/grammar • errors 5.8out of 7 2.9 out of 7

  11. Name Thomas Meyer Thomas MeyerSeniority 3rdyear 3rdyearAlma Mater NYU Law School NYU Law SchoolRace/Ethnicity African American Caucasian Overall Comments Overall Comments “generally good writer, but needs to work on…” “has potential” “good analytical skills” “needs a lot of work” “can’t believe he went to NYU” “average at best”

  12. How Does This Play Out in Practice? • Evaluators unconsciously pay more attention to information that is consistent with a stereotype and less attention to information that is inconsistent with the stereotype. • People unconsciously seek out information that is confirming of stereotypes. • People are better able to remember information that is consistent with the stereotype.

  13. But, We Are Objective. When we view ourselves as objective, we are more likely to be influenced by implicit biases.

  14. What Can We Do? • Awareness • Behavior Changes • Structural Changes

  15. What Can We Do? • Awareness • Keep track of surprises • Take Implicit Association Test

  16. What Can We Do? • Behavior • Get exposed to differences and to counter-stereotypical models and images. • Actively doubt your objectivity. • Put yourself in situations where you are the minority in the room. • Find commonalities with people who look different.

  17. What Can We Do? • Structural • Recognize that individuals and people aren’t color or gender-blind. • Use data to track outcomes.

  18. What We Can Do in Evaluations? • Remove comments based on “gut feelings” (e.g., the lawyer is a “good fit”). • Draft narrative comments with concrete examples before selecting a score from the rating scale. • Focus only on performance during the period of time under review. • Review actual performance; not potential or effort. • Take time to complete reviews and look at them with implicit associations in mind before submitting.

  19. Examples: • Instead of “Helen has what it takes to be a litigator.” • “Helen is developing into an excellent litigator. She was responsible for taking a number of depositions in the Connor case. She was thorough in her preparation and identified the key documents for each witness. Her questions were well thought-out and zeroed in on the main issues. She had a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the case as well as how each witness fit into our defense.”

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