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Unconscious Bias in Hiring, Evaluations, and Promotions
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By Joan Schmelz, Director of the Science and Technology Institute, Director of the NASA Postdoctoral Program, and Chair of the USRA Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
We all have biases, and we are (for the most part) unaware of them. Unconscious bias is not discrimination and not prejudice. In fact, men and women both unconsciously devalue the contributions of women; whites and people of color both unconsciously devalue the contributions of people of color. This can have a detrimental effect on grant proposals, job applications, and performance reviews.
Sociology tells us that both male and female university psychology professors preferred 2:1 to hire “Brian” over “Karen” as an assistant professor when evaluating identical application packages. When assessing a more experienced record, at the point of promotion to tenure, reservations were expressed four times more often about Karen than about Brian. This unconscious bias has a repeated negative effect on Karen’s career (Steinpreis, Anders & Ritzke 1999, Sex Roles, 41, 509).
I have given colloquia on unconscious bias many times in the last 10 years, and people often ask why we have these biases about women and people of color. The “simple” answer is that we have all lived under a patriarchal social system for over 10,000 years! Everyone you have ever met and practically everyone you have ever heard of is the product of patriarchy. With that kind of social engineering dominating every aspect of our lives for countless generations, it is no wonder that these biases have worked their way into our psyche.
The process of eliminating unconscious bias begins with awareness, then moves to policy and practice, and ends with accountability. If you want to know more about unconscious bias, try taking the Harvard Implicit Association Test (Instructions: Select “PROJECT IMPLICIT SOCIAL ATTITUDES.” Scroll down and click, “I wish to proceed.” Select “Gender – Science IAT.” Instruction will pop up. Click to begin.)
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