IMPLICIT BIAS IN A PROFESSIONAL SETTING

Transcription

1 IMPLICIT BIAS IN A PROFESSIONAL SETTING November 14, 2017 Presented by Laura Ashby & Eileen Rumfelt Miller & Martin PLLC

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3 Who Would You Choose? Did you try to answer the questions asked or decide between the two people? How could you do that when you don t know anything about those individuals? What were you basing those decisions on?

4 What is Implicit Bias? We ALL have biases. Yet, we rarely believe that WE are biased. The challenge is to recognize these biases and minimize their effects.

5 What is Implicit Bias?

6 WHAT IS IMPLICIT BIAS? Automatic and instinctual associations that we each make between groups of people and the unconscious stereotypes we have about those groups. Influenced by: our background our cultural environment our personal experiences and the media we are exposed to Biases originate from direct and indirect messages we receive starting from a young age.

7 Implicit Bias Influences our Personal Preferences Grounded in a basic human tendency to divide the social world into groups. Comfort in what we know. We prefer people like us - Look like us Sound like us Share our similar background, interests, hobbies, or education EVERYONE HAS THEM!

8 What Is Implicit Bias? Activated involuntarily without awareness or intentional control. Biases do not necessarily align with our declared, explicit beliefs or views. We cannot always identify these automatic associations. They are not accessible through introspection.

9 The Speed of our Decision Making Less than ⅕ th of a second faster than our eyes can process a person s face. It takes our objective brain ½ a second to kick in. Implicit biases predict real world behavior, and they can affect workplace and recruitment decisions.

10 An Exercise Ignore the letters, shout out the colors! #1 #2 #3 SLB CFLTK CFLTK SPRND HLMG CFLTK SLB SPRND SLB SPRND HLMG CFLTK

11 An Exercise Ignore the letters, shout out the colors! #1 #2 #3 GREEN BLUE GREEN RED YELLOW YELLOW PURPLE BLUE RED GREEN RED PURPLE

12 An Exercise Ignore the letters, shout out the colors! #1 #2 #3 RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE GREEN BROWN RED YELLOW BLUE BROWN BROWN BLUE

13 The Takeaway Our brains can quickly pair together any two concepts that are tightly associated. That s why when the word matched the color, we could more quickly associate the two. Researchers have used the speed of sorting as a signal for how tightly things are mentally associated in our brains.

14 Real World Application: Non-Workplace A 2016 study: People witnessed one player stealing from another player Volunteers had the opportunity to punish the perpetrator The perpetrator appeared to be a member of either the same or a different group as the punisher

15 Real World Application: Non-Workplace Result: When people made decisions swiftly (within a few seconds): Members of same group punished more leniently Members of different group punished more harshly BUT the study also found that people could overcome their bias instincts if they engaged in rational deliberation. In-group members and out-of-group members were largely handed out equal punishments.

16 Real World Application: Workplace A 2016 study: University study gave employers identical, hypothetical resumes that met all the criteria stated in the job description. Some resumes had accompanying photo of obese or normal weight people Some had no photo Employers were asked to rate the resumes on a suitability score.

17 Real World Application: Workplace Men of normal weight avg. score of 39 / 42 Obese men avg. score of 25 / 42 Women of normal weight avg. score of 35 / 42 Obese women avg. score of 23 / 42 No photo avg. score of 30 / 42 Result: Researchers concluded that equally suitable obese men and women are less likely to be employed because of their weight.

18 Other Manifestations of Implicit Bias at Work Research Question: Does confirmation bias unconsciously cause supervising lawyers to more negatively evaluate legal writing by an African American lawyer? Source: Written in Black & White Exploring Confirmation Bias in Racialized Perceptions of Writing Skills Dr. Arin N. Reeves

19 Study Methodology 5 partners in 5 different law firms were asked to draft a research memo from a hypothetical 3 rd year litigation associate. Deliberately inserted 22 different errors 7 minor spelling and grammar 6 substantive technical writing errors 5 errors in fact 4 errors in analysis of facts Memo reviewed by 60 partners from 22 firms 23 women 37 men 21 racial/ethnic minorities 39 Caucasian

20 The only difference Name: Thomas Meyer Seniority: 3 rd Year Associate Alma Mater: NYU Law School Race/Ethnicity: African American Name: Thomas Meyer Seniority: 3 rd Year Associate Alma Mater: NYU Law School Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian

21 Study Results African American Thomas Meyer 3.2/5.0 rating needs lots of work can t believe he went to NYU average at best Caucasian Thomas Meyer 4.1/5.0 rating generally good writer but needs to work on. has potential good analytical skills

22 Study Results African American Thomas Meyer Spelling/Grammar errors 5.8/7.0 Technical writing errors 4.9/6.0 Factual errors 3.9/5.0 Caucasian Thomas Meyer Spelling/Grammar errors 2.9/7.0 Technical writing errors 4.1/6.0 Factual errors 3.2/5.0

23 Other Manifestations of Implicit Bias at Work Traditionally white-sounding names received 50% more callbacks for interviews. (The American Economic Review 2004) Transition to blind auditions resulted in 25% to 46% increase in women hired for orchestra positions. (The American Economic Review 2000)

24 Common Types of Workplace Bias 1. Confirmation Bias 2. Halo/Horn Bias 3. Recency Bias 4. Attribution Bias 5. Anchoring Bias 6. Affinity Bias

25 TYPE 1: Confirmation Bias Only observe and absorb that which affirms established beliefs while missing data that contradicts established beliefs. Occurs when we naturally pay more attention to things that confirm our beliefs. Selectively gather, remember or interpret information to meet our own goals.

26 Type 2: Halo/Horn Bias Allow judgment to be influenced by a particular positive or negative trait. Allow single good or bad quality or feature to outweigh all other qualities or features.

27 Type 3: Recency Bias Recent events tend to weigh more heavily on our decisions than events in the past. Indicates that we don t learn over time as well as we remember the last thing that happened.

28 Type 4: Attribution Bias Occurs when we give people in our inner group the benefit of the doubt but not those in our outer group.

29 Type 5: Anchoring Bias Cognitive bias that describes the human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information ( the anchor ) when making decisions. Once the anchor is set, the bias is toward that value. This may cause an error in accurately predicting future outcome.

30 Type 6: Affinity Bias Gravitate more toward people who are more like us. Affects diversity and inclusion who is getting mentored, who is getting the intangibles, and who is falling through the cracks.

31 Implicit Bias Manifested at Work Hiring Performance and compensation reviews Business development team members Customer outing participants Company leadership positions and committees Discipline Response to maternity leave Work assignments Type of work? Team? Roles on team?

32 Implicit Bias Manifested at Work Dismissing the idea of one team member only to embrace it when offered by another. Addressing some team members by chummy nicknames but other team members with more formality. Continual mispronunciation or use of incorrect name for certain team members. Overreaction when walking into a meeting of more than two women. The lunch crew.

33 Challenge for Upper Management Management is always right. Confidence and assurance can be necessary at times. But, a healthy dose of doubt and some willingness to question one s own certainty is also a good thing. Not a sign of weakness, but rather the sign of a strong analytical mind. Implicit biases can be overcome with rational deliberation which requires avoiding swift and sweeping decisions.

34 Minimize Confirmation Bias Neutral third party Seek out ideas from people outside of your normal group. Listen to conflicting information. Look for ways to challenge what you see or know.

35 Minimize Halo/Horn Bias Benchmark the job by interviewing subject matter experts. Don t evaluate employees based on one attribute.

36 Minimize Recency Bias Choose thorough research over convenience. What s obvious in the short term may not be so for the long term. Every decision should be able to stand on its own. Don t let what happened recently affect or infect your process.

37 Minimize Anchoring Bias Validated and scientifically based assessments. Benchmark the job itself not the people. Compare performance to established benchmarks.

38 Awareness Realize your biases Remember this is implicit.. Examine your habits, social groups, and tendencies Don t always go with your gut!!

39 Intentional Interactions with People Outside of Your Zone Who is in your group? Is there a pattern? Are there colleagues you just never think to include? Do not assume he/she will not want to participate; an invitation is always appreciated. Do not give in to confirmation bias

40 Flip it to Test it

41 Flip it to Test it Our implicit biases are not permanent! They are malleable and can be changed by devoting intention, attention, and time to developing new associations.

42 Flip it to Test it What might this look like in a normal workplace setting?

43 Flip it to Test it

44 Company Practices Day-to-day awareness, not just year end Checklists Not straying or changing the game for one or handful of people Mentoring and assignments Department leadership Encourage others to accurately evaluate Leadership positions Who is being considered Same old list?

45 IMPLICIT BIAS IN A PROFESSIONAL SETTING November 14, 2017 Presented by Laura Ashby & Eileen Rumfelt Miller & Martin PLLC