Implicit Bias Michele C Deramo Assistant Provost for
Implicit Bias Michele C. Deramo Assistant Provost for Diversity Education
Implicit bias: Attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, (re)actions, and decisions in an unconscious and involuntary manner.
Key characteristics • • • Tend to favor our own in-group. Are default reactions. Do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs. Have real-world effects on behavior. Are malleable—they can be unlearned and replaced with new associations.
Warmth and Competen ce
The Impacts of Implicit Bias • We treat people differently based on our implicit associations. • We prefer people who reflect the majority. • We tend to reward people like ourselves. • We tend to be more critical of difference. • Distrust and suspicion proliferate when there is unchecked bias.
Examples from research: Resumes with “white-sounding” names receive 50% more callbacks than those with “black- or Hispanicsounding” names. The National Bureau of Economic Research 30% of male CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in the U. S. are 6’ 2” while only 3. 9% of adult American men are this tall. Malcolm Gladwell, Blink For every 1% of increase in a woman’s body mass, there is a corresponding. 6% decrease in family income. The National Bureau of Economic Research
Managing Personal Bias Commit to learning more Be selfreflective Recognize Your Bias Explore discomfort Expose yourself to role models
Check yourself https: //implicit. Harvard. edu/implicit/
Improve decision making conditions Managing bias in the workplace Have consistent practices Stay mission focused Be attentive to bias “codes” Evaluate processes regularly
Think-Pair-Share: • How might implicit bias impact your workplace? • What can you do to manage workplace processes to minimize the effects of implicit bias?
Final thoughts
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