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Social Cognition & Implicit Bias: Implications for Equal Justice Leadership
WA Equal Justice Community Leadership Academy
Retreat 2
Learning Objectives
• Describe concepts of “cognition”, “social cognition” & “implicit bias”
• Discuss concerns and implications of social cognition and implicit bias for equal justice leaders.
• Analyze ways in which implicit bias impacts the various aspects of the systems within which we work
Social Cognition
A branch of science that studies how people cognitively process social information.
– The human brain can take in 11 million pieces of information in any one moment
• We’re only consciously aware of maybe 40 of these - at best.
Brooks, David. The Social Animal: A Story of How Success Happens. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/08/david-brooks-key-to-success-interview
The Role of the Unconscious Mind
Reacting Before We Even Realize It
Subconscious mind uses 3 major processes to make sense of millions of bits of information that we perceive.
Sort into categories
Create associations btwn things
Fill in gaps when only
receive partial info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrqrkihlw-s
Awareness Test
Our Brains in Action
O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
Our Brains in Action: Filling in the Gaps
Our Brains in Action
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nL5ulsWMYc
The Stroop Test
Πράσινος
Please state the color of the text
Χρυσός
Κόκκινος Μπλε
Μωβ
Πορτοκάλι
μαύρος
Our Brains in Action
Κόκκινος Πορτοκάλι
Πράσινος μαύρος
Μπλε
The Stroop Test
Blue
Blue
Green
Please state the color of the text
Black
Red
Green
Blue
Black
Blue
Black
Red
Green
Green
Green
Red
Black
Our Brains in Action
Where do implicit social cognitions come from?
• Infancy • Parents
• Friends
• Media
• Positive or negative associations
• Strengthen over time automatic
Schemas that humans apply to human interactions and guide way a person thinks about social categories.
Understanding schemas
Social Cognitions Include:
Stereotypes
• Traits we associate with a category
Attitudes
• Evaluative feelings that are positive or negative
Two kinds of biases
Explicit
• Aware
• Controllable
• Intentional
• Endorsed
Implicit
• Unaware
• Uncontrollable
• Unintentional
• Not endorsed
Why do we care about this?
not all inequity/disparity is the result of an intentional ‘ism”
How do we know what our implicit biases are?
Project Implicit
The IAT measures the ease with which people associate words or pictures representing either of two contrasting groups – such as white people and black people or men and women – with positive or negative meanings. (Bower, 2006)
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/
Key findings from the IAT
• Implicit biases are pervasive
• People are often unaware of their implicit biases
• Implicit biases predict behavior
• People differ in levels of implicit bias
Examples of Implicit Bias
• Doctors less likely to recommend African-American patients to specialists
• Managers are less likely to call back or hire members of a different ethnic group.
• Judges found to grant dark-skinned defendants sentences up to 8 month longer than light-skinned defendants for identical offenses.
Source: www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/implicit-bias-and-social-justice
Triads
– What was it like to take the IAT?
– Which tests did you take?
– Were your results what you expected? Why or why not?
– Regardless of whether you expected them or not, how do you feel about your results?
Why should this matter to us?
Why/how does implicit bias show up in:• the institutions that you interact with on behalf of
clients and communities you serve?
• the operation of your organization?
• interpersonal dynamics within your organization?
• inter-office/institutional dynamics within NY or national equal justice communities?
Within our organizations, implicit bias can impact:
– Interaction with community members
– Interaction with colleagues
– Hiring, retention, & promotion decisions
– Management & supervision
– Resource allocation (“triage” in face of heavy caseloads)
The good news: Malleability
Motivation
Exposure
Environment
Procedural
Changes
Institutionalizing Equity (focused on race)
Implicit Bias Explicit Equity
Unaware of choice points Builds in decision-making guides that evoke consideration of equity
Exclusive of stakeholders Fosters active engagement and empowerment of stakeholders
Not attentive to race, gender, income and other inequities
Gives distinct, specific and sufficient attention to key disparities/inequities
Ignores barriers to access Supports and implements strategies to remove barriers
Does not consider racial impacts Systematically analyzes potential impacts on disadvantaged groups
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