Class 19 Flashcards
What is our issue with overconfidence?
We are overconfident in our objectivity
What is The ‘Bias Blindspot’?
Most people think they are less biased then the average American (cannot be true)
What are possible solutions to The Problem: We are overconfident in our objectivity
Self-audit your practices
Create practices to circumvent your biases
How can ‘Noise’ and Discrimination work together?
In many contexts, discrimination can arise not solely from ‘bias’ but also from more general inaccuracy in judgment or evaluation
Explain how we can reduce:
- Discrimination
- Noise
- discrimination:
Many prominent methods for reducing discrimination try to reduce biasin judgment or evaluation (i.e., degree to which one group is favored)
- Men and women / passed or failed at same rate - Discrimination can also be reduced by reducing noise(i.e., the total number of errors made in evaluation).
- So men are being selected at a higher rate
- Just less inaccuracies
forcing participants to slow down reduced….
a. discrimination
b. noise
reduced noise but not bias
warning participants to avoid using physical attractiveness
a. discrimination
b. noise
reduced bias but not noise
recent approaches to reducing prejudice: what is ‘Paradoxical Thinking’
Paradoxical thinking involves trying to change attitudes by presenting new information that is consistent with one’s beliefs, but is so extreme that it leads someone to paradoxically perceive their own beliefs as irrational
What is an example of ‘Paradoxical Thinking’?
“we need conflict with the Palestinians in order to have the strongest army in the world”,
while another conveyed the message that “in order to feel moral, we need the conflict.”
on the surface they would agree, but it’s taken so far they have to disagree (might change core of beliefs just to disagree with this)
Why might these ’paradoxical thinking’ interventions be effective?
to evoke feelings of identity threat and surprise among participants
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What is ‘Hypocrisy Induction’ Spain study?
‘hypocrisy’ condition, participants read summaries of acts of mass violence committed by White Europeans.
They then answered a question about how responsible Europeans are for such acts.
Then told about muslim mass violence
Then answered a question about how responsible Muslim ppl are for such acts
Inconsistency! Cannot say all muslims are responsible without ruining your logic of the first
What is the impact of ‘Hypocrisy Induction’ later?
‘hypocrisy’ intervention reduced collective blame towards Muslims immediately, one month later, and even one year later
Intervention to increase achievement among under-represented minorities & first-generation students:
- Academic Value Interventions
The intervention: Students reflect on why course topics are useful and important for their own lives
Why it works: Increases intrinsic motivation to do well in the class
Explain the study on Academic Value Interventions?
Students were randomly assigned within each classroom to either:
write about the usefulness and utility value of the course material in their own lives
or write a summary of the material they were studying
FOUND: Students with low expectations and out relevance did much better
Intervention to increase achievement among under-represented minorities & first-generation students:
Growth Mindset Intervention
The intervention: Teaching students that intelligence is malleable, not fixed.
Why it works: Increases motivation to try harder when faced with adversity
Explain the study on Growth Mindset Interventions?
high school students used a one-hour online training session seeking to instill a growth mindset… the belief that “the brain is like a muscle that grows stronger and smarter when it undergoes rigorous learning experiences”
Among lower-achieving students, receiving the intervention led to an average increase of .10 points in a ninth-grade GPA
(crazy for a one hour video)
When might the growth mindset be especially effective?
schools that had more supportive norms
Intervention to increase achievement among under-represented minorities & first-generation students:
Social Belonging Intervention
The intervention: Students read testimonials about how more senior students worried about whether they belong in college during the first year, but it gets better over time.
Why it works: Reduces tendency to think “I don’t belong here” when faced with adversity.
What is the study on Social Belonging Interventions?
Black students face exclusion from a social outing or receiving critical academic feedback, as confirming that they do not belong. This perception can become self-fulfilling.
SO: college students that were a racial minority watch a video where older students from the same racial background talked about their own transition to college
(older students said it was a transition period and would get easier)
What were the results of the study on Social Belonging Intervention?
Despite just 8% of participants accurately remembering the video, being in the treatment condition still showed long-lasting effects.
Intervention to increase achievement among under-represented minorities & first-generation students:
Personal Values Intervention
The intervention: Writing about personal values that one holds
Why it works: Affirms self-worth broadly, diminishing the impact of academic adversity on self-worth
Explain the study on Personal Values Intervention?
seventh-graders to “reflect on an important personal value, such as relationships with friends and family or musical interests.
”This writing practice is meant to reduce psychological stress and improve self-worth”
Found: Low performing students do better over time!
Intervention to increase achievement among under-represented minorities & first-generation students:
Empathic Discipline
The intervention: Provide teachers with non-pejorative reasons for why students may misbehave at school (e.g., changes in adolescence) and discouraged labeling of students as ‘troublemakers’.
Why it works: Encourages teachers to view school discipline as an opportunity to develop mutual understanding and better relationships with student
Study on Empathic Discipline Intervention?
assigned teachers to read an article supporting a “punitive mindset” or “empathic mindset” approach to discipline
Middle-school teachers who were randomly assigned to undergo a similar empathic-mindset training showed a 50% reduction in suspensions given over the course of the following school year.
All these studies use a “recursive processes”, what is that?
Most work occurs outside the actual intervention
- Changing how people interpret the world
- Carry a tool box with them (let’s intervention be more effective)
