Implicit Bias
At an AWIS–NSF meeting in DC, I am learning about implicit bias, that none of us see things objectively, as in the following amazing optical illusions:
The Checkerboard (and video)
The following human figures on the left are exactly the same color and shade as those on the right:
For information on similar gender biases, see the brochure by WISELI on “Reviewing Applicants.”
Note added 25 May 2011. AWIS has posted some webcasts. One study found that readers of CVs identical except for a man’s or a woman’s name at the top preferred to hire the man. The same study found no such difference for tenure decisions.
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misha:
Maybe it’s time for implicit bias theorem?
25 June 2010, 2:01 pmHerb:
It is interesting to see a sort of “meta” bias going on, in that,
while the biases described in the study you referenced do exist,
mention of biases against man are rarely, if ever, mentioned:
How about the U.S family court system, where mothers are assumed
by default to be the better parent? Or, in the Penal System, how more
leniency is shown to women for almost identical crimes? Or how mention
is rarely made that in around 90% of couples, women have the last say in
most important financial decisions (e.g., buying a house, a car), even when
the man is the bigger earner?
Most studies on bias seem to mention bias towards a group the writer belongs
to, and not towards other groups.
But maybe I am being biased myself.
21 January 2011, 1:59 pmPhoebe:
Herb is absolutely right. Implicit bias studies show a bias towards women in some roles but not others. Our AWARDS work suggests that the same disciplinary societies that are not selecting women for scholarly awards seem to have a bias TOWARDS women when giving service awards.
26 May 2011, 8:04 am