Social Cognition & Implicit Bias: Implications for Equal Justice Leadership

WA Equal Justice Community Leadership Academy

Retreat 2

Learning Objectives

• Describe concepts of “cognition”, “social cognition” & “implicit bias”

• Discuss concerns and implications of social cognition and implicit bias for equal justice leaders.

• Analyze ways in which implicit bias impacts the various aspects of the systems within which we work

Social Cognition

A branch of science that studies how people cognitively process social information.

– The human brain can take in 11 million pieces of information in any one moment

• We’re only consciously aware of maybe 40 of these - at best.

Brooks, David. The Social Animal: A Story of How Success Happens. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/08/david-brooks-key-to-success-interview

The Role of the Unconscious Mind

Reacting Before We Even Realize It

Subconscious mind uses 3 major processes to make sense of millions of bits of information that we perceive.

Sort into categories

Create associations btwn things

Fill in gaps when only

receive partial info

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrqrkihlw-s

Awareness Test

Our Brains in Action

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Our Brains in Action: Filling in the Gaps

Our Brains in Action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nL5ulsWMYc

The Stroop Test

Πράσινος

Please state the color of the text

Χρυσός

Κόκκινος Μπλε

Μωβ

Πορτοκάλι

μαύρος

Our Brains in Action

Κόκκινος Πορτοκάλι

Πράσινος μαύρος

Μπλε

The Stroop Test

Blue

Blue

Green

Please state the color of the text

Black

Red

Green

Blue

Black

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Green

Green

Red

Black

Our Brains in Action

Where do implicit social cognitions come from?

• Infancy • Parents

• Friends

• Media

• Positive or negative associations

• Strengthen over time automatic

Schemas that humans apply to human interactions and guide way a person thinks about social categories.

Understanding schemas

Social Cognitions Include:

Stereotypes

• Traits we associate with a category

Attitudes

• Evaluative feelings that are positive or negative

Two kinds of biases

Explicit

• Aware

• Controllable

• Intentional

• Endorsed

Implicit

• Unaware

• Uncontrollable

• Unintentional

• Not endorsed

Why do we care about this?

not all inequity/disparity is the result of an intentional ‘ism”

How do we know what our implicit biases are?

Project Implicit

The IAT measures the ease with which people associate words or pictures representing either of two contrasting groups – such as white people and black people or men and women – with positive or negative meanings. (Bower, 2006)

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/

Key findings from the IAT

• Implicit biases are pervasive

• People are often unaware of their implicit biases

• Implicit biases predict behavior

• People differ in levels of implicit bias

Examples of Implicit Bias

• Doctors less likely to recommend African-American patients to specialists

• Managers are less likely to call back or hire members of a different ethnic group.

• Judges found to grant dark-skinned defendants sentences up to 8 month longer than light-skinned defendants for identical offenses.

Source: www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/implicit-bias-and-social-justice

Triads

– What was it like to take the IAT?

– Which tests did you take?

– Were your results what you expected? Why or why not?

– Regardless of whether you expected them or not, how do you feel about your results?

Why should this matter to us?

Why/how does implicit bias show up in:• the institutions that you interact with on behalf of

clients and communities you serve?

• the operation of your organization?

• interpersonal dynamics within your organization?

• inter-office/institutional dynamics within NY or national equal justice communities?

Within our organizations, implicit bias can impact:

– Interaction with community members

– Interaction with colleagues

– Hiring, retention, & promotion decisions

– Management & supervision

– Resource allocation (“triage” in face of heavy caseloads)

The good news: Malleability

Motivation

Exposure

Environment

Procedural

Changes

Institutionalizing Equity (focused on race)

Implicit Bias Explicit Equity

Unaware of choice points Builds in decision-making guides that evoke consideration of equity

Exclusive of stakeholders Fosters active engagement and empowerment of stakeholders

Not attentive to race, gender, income and other inequities

Gives distinct, specific and sufficient attention to key disparities/inequities

Ignores barriers to access Supports and implements strategies to remove barriers

Does not consider racial impacts Systematically analyzes potential impacts on disadvantaged groups