Think pieces
Think Pieces includes a selection of resources selected to raise awareness of unconscious bias, how it threatens receptiveness to novelty and how our biases can so easily affect those with whom we interact and teach.
Emma, a geobiologist’s awareness raising about implicit bias
Description: A short story on how a female scientist, surprised by her own high score pertaining to implicit bias, developed means to avoid or limit the effect her biases were likely to have on others.
Application: The story, told through the two slideshares highlights that being biased can come as a surprise but that there are practical ways to address it.
Tinna C. Nielsen’s video
Description: An unconventional and direct way to incorporate diverse competences within a large firm – without even launching specific programmes to broadly raise awareness on biases. Through the use of nudges and small tricks, Tinna Nielsen describes how when at Arla, she implemented routines that highlighted and counterbalanced unconscious biases.
Application: For those of us who wish to avoid century-long discussions or to drown in gender theories, here is an encouraging voice that there are direct ways to increase return on investment. Ways to ‘cheat ourselves’ past the biases.
TEDx talk by Tinna C. Nielsen
Bias-awareness raising resources
Implicit Association Test (IAT) Harvard University
Description: The Implicit Association Test (IAT) claims to measure attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report. The IAT may be especially interesting if it shows implicit attitudes as yet unknown to the individual. Jost et al. (2009) claim the existence of implicit bias is beyond reasonable doubt and they provide counter arguments to critiques of IAT. If you choose to complete an IAT, you will be required to agree for your test data to be used by the IAT research project.
Application: We recommend that teams of university educators try one or more IATs independently, meeting after to discuss the findings and the experience. The results can take us by surprise and by discussing shared experiences we can counter self-denial and help co-develop our self-awareness.
The discomfort experienced from raising our awareness of ‘unconscious biases’ can provide the necessary trigger to help us recognise the value of bias aware teaching and learning.
Hillard et al. (2013) evaluate students’ reactions to the Race Implicit Association Test (IAT) when used as an educational tool to raise awareness of racial bias.
Warmth and Competence
Description: This activity is informed by Fiske et al.’s (2002) ‘Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype Content: Competence and Warmth Respectively Follow From Perceived Status and Competition’.
Application: A selection of about 6 portrait photos are shown on screen, each photo is shown for only 5-10 seconds. The photos should include portraits which are likely to elicit a stereotypical response, which could later be revealed as inaccurate representations. The selection of portraits will depend on the social norms and social stereotypes which are commonly associated with the viewers.
For example: Northern European and Northern American biases tend towards white, clean shaven, good looking males therefore including a photo of such a male who has a serious criminal background would challenge the stereotype. Viewers are asked to note their initial responses to each photo, their System One response, as Kahneman (2011) would call it. They use the Warmth and Competence template to record a score for warmth and competence for each portrait. After reviewing the viewers’ scores more information about each person in the photo is provided and viewers are asked if their scores would have been higher if they had had access to this information at the start. Usually, more information would have led to a different score on some if not all of the photos. The activity can help raise viewers’ awareness of how our initial impressions can be misleading.
Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Gender Equality in Teaching
This questionnaire is based on the assumption that teaching is not gender-neutral. ‘Gender equal teaching is not simply applying specific teaching methods. Rather, it means to detect, make aware, and integrate gender issues in relation with your teaching scenario. This questionnaire was developed by ‘Project e-qual – teaching, Gender, Quality, University of Fribourg’.
The questionnaire is available in French and German. The glossary section has been updated and extended and includes links to further resources.
Cognitive bias cheat sheet, simplified
Buster Benson includes a diagrammatic representation of four broad categories of cognitive biases.
Cognitive Biases
© Shire Professional Chartered Psychologists.
Provides a list of cognitive biases which can affect meetings, people management and decision-making
Science and Gender
‘Most of us are biased’ Jennifer Raymond, neurobiologist at Stanford University on facing up to our biases towards women in science.
Decolonising the Curriculum
Description: In June 2020, students at the University of Birmingham, UK converted their planned conference on ‘Decolonising the Curriculum’ to a series of five webinars. You can either access all of the webinar recordings from the links below or the conference Youtube channel.
Applications:
- Professor Kehinde Andrews: ‘Black Studies as the Science of Liberation.’ Available at: https://youtu.be/E_5EJ4hiX-I
- Dr Patricia Noxolo: ‘(Post)COVID-19 Online Learning Opportunities & Dangers for Black Students & Staff.’ Available at: https://youtu.be/0pXVs60HETE and PPT link
- Daniel Stone: ‘Student activism and breaking down barriers to decolonising the curriculum.’ Available at: https://youtu.be/VmujcCqNfxg
- Augustine Farinola: ‘Black Heritage and Epistemic Pathways to Decolonising the Curriculum.’ Available at: https://youtu.be/qepNh7N2-qA and links to resources
- Dr. Emanuelle Santos: ‘Decolonise the curriculum: beyond the buzzword toward actual change.’ Available at https://youtu.be/Dgcs5b_0zAE
You can follow the students ongoing work on decolonising the curriculum through these social media sites:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decolonisinguob
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dtc_unibham
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decolonisinguob