unconscious bias - paea admissions workshop

Unconscious bias A brief introduction

Seán L. Stickle VP & Chief Strategy OfficerPhysician Assistant Education Association

What is unconscious bias?

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“I’m not biased.” —Everyone

The reflex brain stereotypes, even in people who considernon-discrimination as one of their main values and who sincerely and consciously practice this belief. BrainChains, Theo Compernolle (2014)

behavior vs intention

systematic irrationality

Unconscious Bias A bias that we are unaware of, and which happens outside of our control. It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgments and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment, and personal experiences. Unconscious Bias and Higher Education Equality Challenge Unit (2013)

Implicit Bias Refers to the same area, but questions the level to which these biases are unconscious especially as we are being made increasingly aware of them. Once we know that biases are not always explicit, we are responsible for them. Unconscious Bias and Higher Education Equality Challenge Unit (2013)

Your heritage is being vandalized every day by theft losses of petrified wood of 14 tons a year, mostly a small piece at a time.

First Rule of Bias Club Talk About Bias

Perceiving one’s judgments as objective and free of bias predicted greater bias. “Constructed Criteria: Redefining Merit to Justify Discrimination”Uhlmann and Cohen, 2014

Second Rule of Bias Club Prevent Bias

How is unconscious bias relevant to PA admissions?

Exercise Stereotyping

Steve is very shy and withdrawn, invariably helpful, but with little interest in people, or in the world of reality.

A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure, and a passion for detail.

Steve is a…

librarian farmer

Janelle is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

bank teller bank teller & active in the feminist movement

Janelle is a…

Exercise Stereotyping

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sdty glvp xmlt ztub fbrm txzp

bhwp

red yellow green blue red

blue yellow

red yellow green blue red

blue yellow

Implicit Association Test

Making biased decisions affects the recruitment and selection of staff and students, and the ability of those staff and students to achieve their full potential. Unconscious Bias and Higher Education Equality Challenge Unit (2013)

Double Jeopardy? Gender Bias Against Women of Color in Science Joan C. Williams, Katherine W. Phillips, Erika V. Hall (2014)

Men were favored for the traditionally male job of police chief, and women were favored for the traditionally female job of women’s studies professor.

Decision makers didn’t stereotype the applicants. Instead, they defined their notion of ‘‘what it takes’’ to do the job well in a manner tailored to the idiosyncratic credentials of the person they wanted to hire. “Constructed Criteria: Redefining Merit to Justify Discrimination”Uhlmann and Cohen, 2014

What purpose does unconscious bias serve & why do we have it?

10,000,000 bits/sec Retinal nerve

40 bits/sec Conscious mind "Neurophysiology of Sensory Systems”Manfred Zimmermann (1986)

“Normally when you're going from point A to point B, you divide up the world into things you can use, and those are things you see. Your perceptual systems do that.” Jordan Peterson, Professor, Psychology, University of Toronto

Exercise Inattentional Blindness

Exercise Inattentional Blindness

Schemas Implicit and habitual ways of organizing information about how we experience the world.

pareidolia

We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.

—Anaïs Nin (1961)

What kinds of unconscious bias are there?

System 1: Fast fast, automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious

System 2: Slow slow, effortful, infrequent,logical, calculating, conscious

System 1: Fast automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious

System 2: Slow slow, effortful, infrequent,logical, calculating, conscious

System 1: Fast automatic, frequent, emotional, stereotypic, unconscious

System 2: Slow effortful, infrequent,logical, calculating, conscious

Too Much Information?

Too Much Information?Aggressively filter.

Not Enough Meaning?

Not Enough Meaning?Fill in the gaps.

“If they win, it’s because they made good decisions. If they lose, it’s because they were unlucky.”

Need to Act Fast?

Need to Act Fast?Jump to conclusions.

What to Remember?

What to Remember?Just the important bits.

Implicit Association Test

What are the effects of unconscious bias?

Ego Depletion/Decision Fatigue When judges make repeated rulings, they show an increased tendency to rule in favor of the status quo. This tendency can be overcome by taking a break to eat a meal. “Extraneous factors in judicial decisions”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011

What can I do about unconscious bias as a PA admissions team?

1. Recognize Understand that you (and everyone else) has unconscious biases

behavior vs intention

2. Slow down You move too fast

In designing bias-countering processes and practices, encourage those that place a premium on cognitive effort over intuition or gut instinct. “Beyond Bias,” Strategy+BusinessHeidi Grant Halvorson & David Rock (2015)

Individual cognitive effort is not enough. You have to cultivate an organization-wide culture in which people continually remind one another that the brain’s default setting is egocentric. “Beyond Bias,” Strategy+BusinessHeidi Grant Halvorson & David Rock (2015)

3. Poka yoke (ポカヨケ) Make the right thing easy Make the wrong thing hard

Unconscious bias A brief introduction

Seán L. Stickle VP & Chief Strategy OfficerPhysician Assistant Education Association

Unconscious bias A brief introduction

Seán L. Stickle VP & Chief Strategy OfficerPhysician Assistant Education Association