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 Plus extra benefit - CPD

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 You can tell that this woman is angry. You can tell she might be about to say something. You know immediately that she has blonde hair. These things came to you easily and without effort.

Try this 19 x26 Answer 494 This takes more effort. You will know that you can do this, using mental arithmetic or pencil and paper. You will access a cognitive program for multiplication and then implement it. This is slow thinking and you know this because it is deliberate, effortful and linear.

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" They are a bit like the characters in a drama! You can do several things at once, but only if they are easy! (e.g. talking to a passenger in your car while you are driving, but you could not compute 19 x 26 when navigating a busy junction)

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 objects Hot/cold drinks Rough 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. A Horizon programme recently demonstrated how easy it is to influence this critical process if there are no checks and balances. They had a candidate for a job interviewed by two separate groups of 4 people.  in one:one discussions.  On the way to the interview room they gave each of the individuals in one group a hot drink to hold for a few minutes and the other group a cold drink.  All four of those who held the hot drink said they would give the individual the job and all those who held the cold drink said they wouldn’t. This apparently was typical of much more intensive research that was done in this area.  They know what the impact of hot and cold drinks are but don’t yet understand why this happens.

CVs Max Kpakio or Craig Owen?

Case Study How do we ensure Fairness Objectivity?

More ideas 1995 - 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 Calm Sweet

Next associate a list of negative words (ugly, scary, freaky) with a list of insect names. Most of us find this initial task easy.

Scary Ugly Freaky

But if we reverse it?

Scary Ugly Freaky

Pretty Sweet Calm But what if you reverse it? You are in front of a computer screen: the left half of the screen contains a picture of a spiny poisonous caterpillar and the word “calm;” on the right half is a picture of a tulip and the word “freaky”. When a positive word or an insect name comes up, you press the left arrow. When a negative word or a flower name comes up, you press the right arrow. The second task turns out to be complicated — we don’t generally associate insects with positive words. This complication leads us to do worse (to react more slowly) on a test that pairs insects with “pretty,” “sweet,” and “calm” than one that pairs insects with “ugly,” “scary,” and “freaky.” 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.

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 Although this seems innocuous enough, it gets less so when “flowers” and “insects” are swapped for what’s called in-group (the group you belong to) and out-group (groups you aren’t a member of) perceptions. When similar tests are administered to people with regards to race (i.e. measuring Japanese Americans’ associations about Koreans) they frequently demonstrate bias. It turns out, not surprisingly, that it is generally harder for people to associate out-group images and names with positive words.

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 he enjoys smoking so much it is worth it; the chances of his health suffering are not as serious as some would make out; he can't always avoid every possible dangerous contingency and still live; and 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