Unconscious Bias

Welcome

Today • Introductions

• The concept of unconscious bias

• How unconscious bias affects recruitment decisions

• Understanding more about the impact of unconscious bias

• Cognitive dissonance

• Case studies/ real life

• Small groups

• Workbooks, resources

• Any questions/final remarks

• Close

Unconscious bias

What is it? Context?

• Implicit people preferences, formed by socialisation

• Past experiences which influence our thinking in the ‘background’

• Exposure to others’ views about groups of people

Difference between unconscious & conscious bias?

We are ‘hard-wired’ to prefer people who look like us, sound like us and share our interests

Social psychologists call this phenomenon "social categorisation‟ whereby we routinely and rapidly sort people into groups

These preferences bypass our normal, rational and logical thinking

We use these processes very effectively (we might call it intuition) but the categories we use to sort people are not logical or rational

Also called

• Implicit bias• Hidden bias

• Arose as a way to explain why discrimination persists, even though we know that people oppose it

Look at this picture

Try this

19 x26

Answer 494

Fast and Slow Thinking - Kahneman

• System 1 - effortlessly originating impressions and feelings…main sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of System 2

• It’s fast, intuitive, associative, metaphorical, automatic, impressionistic, and it can't be switched off

• System 1 is the "secret author of many of the choices and judgments you make"

Fast and Slow thinking cont.

• System 2 is slow, deliberate, effortful

• System 2 - Requires attention & is disrupted when attention is taken away. We tend to identify with System 2 as our conscious reasoning self

Real life examples?

Unconscious bias & recruitment

• Blatant discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, sexual orientation, age or disability is much rarer than it was a generation ago

• However, more subtle forms of bias persist, with socio-economic background often playing an unconscious role in hiring decisions

Really?

Joshua Ackerman and John Bargh (2010)

Heavy objectsHot/cold drinksRough objects

Sometimes it's called "haptic sensation" and sometimes you will find it referred to as "embodied cognition." We are very influenced by the meaning that our sense of touch perceives.

CVs

• Max Kpakio or Craig Owen?

Case Study

How do we ensure• Fairness• Objectivity?

More ideas1995 - Doctors Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji theorised that our social behaviour may not be completely under our conscious control

Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes, Self-Esteem and Stereotypes - much of our social behaviour is driven by learned stereotypes that operate automatically/unconsciously when we interact with others

Cont.

Greenwald et al developed the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which has become the standard bearer for measuring implicit bias

(link provided in your seminar notes)

IAT• Project Implicit- non-profit org / international collaboration between

researchers interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control

• Founded in 1998 by three scientists – Tony Greenwald (University of Washington),Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University), and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia)

• Goal - educate the public about implicit social cognition & provide a “virtual laboratory” collecting data on the Internet.

• Project Implicit also provides consulting, education, and training services on implicit bias, diversity and inclusion, leadership, applying science to practice, and innovation.

• For more information about the Project Implicit research group, see https://www.projectimplicit.net

Example

• associate a list of positive words (pretty, sweet, calm) with flowers

Pretty

SweetCalm

Next

• associate a list of negative words (ugly, scary, freaky) with a list of insect names.

Most of us find this initial task easy.

Ugly

Scary

Freaky

But if we reverse it?

Ugly

Scary

Freaky

Calm Sweet

Pretty

• By measuring reaction times in tests like these, Greenwald postulated that scientists are able to measure your association of positive words with flowers and negative words with insects

• We call this positive association a preference and the negative association a bias

• Implicit bias, as measured by the IAT and other tools, has been found to predict behaviour accurately outside of the computer setting

• It has predictive validity

• In a recent meta-analysis Greenwald and colleagues found statistically significant links between people’s implicit bias scores and their daily behaviour

• The implicit bias scores were better predictors of discriminatory behaviour than explicit self-reports

How do these biases translate into the real world?

The halo effect

• The halo effect is a type of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person influences how we feel and think about his or her character

Malcolm Gladwell

• In the U.S. population, about 14.5 % of all men are six feet or over. Among CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that number is 58 %

• Even more strikingly, in the general American population, 3.9 % of adult men are 6'2" or taller. Among his CEO sample, 30 % were 6'2" or taller.

Cognitive dissonance

• The term cognitive dissonance is used to describe the feelings of discomfort that result from holding two conflicting beliefs

• A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Festinger (1957)

Cognitive dissonance"The person who continues to smoke, knowing that it is bad for his health, may also feel

(a) he enjoys smoking so much it is worth it;

(b) the chances of his health suffering are not as serious as some would make out;

(c) he can't always avoid every possible dangerous contingency and still live; and

(d) perhaps even if he stopped smoking he would put on weight which is equally bad for his health.

So, continuing to smoke is, after all, consistent with his ideas about smoking."(Festinger, 1957)

Great read!

• Mistakes Were Made but not by me

• Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts

Tavris & Aronson

Discussions and debrief

• Elements to consider for Imperial – what can you do?

Challenging Unconscious Bias

• Be supportive and vocal in your support of those working to eliminate unconscious bias

• Do not support jokes that degrade any group of people

• Develop a good understanding of the potential for unconscious bias and be alert

• Use inclusive language• Notice and interrupt/stop biased behaviour and

statements made by you or your colleagues - use this formula:

Unconscious Bias