Lecture 20: Reducing Discrimination ll

Question 1

the problem of overconfidence

Answer 1

we are overconfident in our objectivity

Question 2

The Bias Blindspot

Answer 2

people believe that they show less bias than the average person

Question 3

confirmation bias and the bias blindspot

Answer 3

84% of people said that they show less confirmation bias than others, 16% of people said that they were just as biased, while none said they were more biased

Question 4

professors and the bias blindspot

Answer 4

92% of professors think that they’re better than average in their academic output

Question 5

how do we judge our own vs. others’ behaviours

Answer 5

We judge our own behaviour based on our thoughts, but others’ behaviour based on their actions

Question 6

self-auditing

Answer 6

Going through every possible step of a process and trying to determine where biases might occur

Question 7

potential solutions to overconfidence

Answer 7

• Self-audit your practices
• Create practices to circumvent your biases

Question 8

evaluation

Answer 8

the degree to which one group is favoured

Question 9

noise

Answer 9

the total number of errors made in evaluation

Question 10

two ways of reducing discrimination

Answer 10

• reducing bias in evaluation
• reducing noise

Question 11

Axt & Lai, 2019 noise and discrimination study

Answer 11

found that different interventions impact bias and noise differently. Using a decision-making task that produced discrimination based on physical attractiveness, forcing participants to slow down reduced noise but not bias, whereas warning participants to avoid using physical attractiveness reduces bias not noise.

Question 12

paradoxical thinking

Answer 12

trying to change attitudes by presenting new information that is consistent with one’s beliefs that is so extreme that it leads someone to paradoxically perceive their own beliefs as irrational

Question 13

the designers of paradoxical thinking argue that ___

Answer 13

“individuals who are provided with extreme information or instructions that are in line with their held beliefs or attitudes may change them even when they are extremely negative and well-entrenched”

Question 14

Hameiri et al., 2014 Jews and Paradoxical thinking study method

Answer 14

investigated the attitudes and beliefs of 161 Israeli Jews over the course of one election year. The paradoxical thinking intervention involved watching clips that make an argument for why it is essential to have a sustained conflict with Palestinians.

Question 15

Hameiri et al., 2014 Jews and Paradoxical thinking study findings

Answer 15

• Participants in the paradoxical thinking intervention were more supportive of a policy that evacuated Israeli settlements as a means of achieving peace with Palestinians
• Participants in the paradoxical thinking condition were also more likely to vote in elections for political candidates that had less pro-conflict positions towards Palestinians

Question 16

why do paradoxical thinking interventions work?

Answer 16

because of their ability to evoke feelings of identity threat and surprise among participants

Question 17

Bruneau et al., 2020 Muslims and hypocracy induction study method

Answer 17

In a hypocritical condition, participants read summaries of acts of mass violence committed by White Europeans. They then answered questions about how responsible Europeans are for such acts
They then completed the same measures but now about the 2015 Paris attacks led by Muslim extremists

Question 18

Bruneau et al., 2020 Muslims and hypocracy induction study findings

Answer 18

This hypocrisy intervention reduced collective blame towards Muslims immediately, one month later, and even one year later

Question 19

the problem of inequalities in education

Answer 19

large and persistent gaps in academic achievement based on demographic status

Question 20

causes of inequalities in education

Answer 20

• Structural causes (ex. Unequal school funding, lack of access to opportunities, intergenerational transmission of social & cultural capital)
• Psychological causes (ex. Stereotype threat, disidentification from stereotyped domains)

Question 21

Interventions that have shown to be effective for increasing achievement among under-represesented minorities & first-generation students

Answer 21

• Academic value
• Growth mindset
• Social belonging
• Personal values
• Empathic discipline

Question 22

academic value interventions

Answer 22

students reflect on why course topics are useful and important for their own lives

Question 23

why do academic value interventions work?

Answer 23

increases intrinsic motivation to do well in this class

Question 24

academic value interventions study method

Answer 24

sought to make connections between the course material and ninth-grade science students’ everyday lives. Students were randomly assigned within each classroom to either write about the usefulness and utility value of the course material in their own lives (relevance condition) or write a summary of the material they were studying (control condition).

Question 25

growth mindset intervention

Answer 25

teaching students that intelligence is malleable, not fixed

Question 26

why does the growth mindset intervention work

Answer 26

increases motivation to try harder when faced with adversity

Question 27

growth mindset study method

Answer 27

gave 6,000 high school students a one-hour online training session seeking to instill a growth mindset. In a pre-registered hypothesis, the researchers explored whether the intervention was going to be particularly effective among low and middle-achieving adolescents

Question 28

growth mindset study findings

Answer 28

Among lower-achieving students, receiving the intervention led to an average increase of a 0.10 points in a ninth-grade GPA
The effect of the intervention was also higher among schools that had more supportive norms in terms of challenge-seeking, as measured by the percentage of students in that school who chose to complete a more difficult (but educational) worksheet when given the opportunity

Question 29

social belonging intervention

Answer 29

students read testimonials about how more senior students worried about whether they belong in college during first year, but it gets better over time

Question 30

why do social belonging interventions work?

Answer 30

reduces the tendency to think “I don’t belong here” when faced with adversity

Question 31

belonging uncertainty

Answer 31

a common concern among Black college students, which can lead them to perceive common challenges in college as confirming that they do not belong. This perception can become self-fulfilling.

Question 32

social belonging interventions study method

Answer 32

Showed college students from a racial minority a video where older students from the same racial backgroun talked about their own transition to college, with the goal of representing challenging times in college as normal, and as due to the transition itself rather than evidence of a permanent lack of belonging on the part of the self or one’s group

Question 33

social belonging interventions study findings

Answer 33

• Despite just 8% of participants accurately remembering the video, being in the treatment condition showed lasting effects: Black participants reported greater satisfaction with their employment and greater overall well-being 8.5 years later
• Participants in the treatment condition did not show significant gains in more objective measures of employment success (ex. income)

Question 34

potential mechanism behind social belonging interventions

Answer 34

the intervention helped facilitate the development of helpful mentoring relationships

Question 35

personal values intervention

Answer 35

writing about personal values that one holds

Question 36

why do personal values interventions work?

Answer 36

affirms self-worth broadly, diminishing the impact of academic adversity on self-worth

Question 37

personal values interventions study method

Answer 37

asked 7th 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.

Question 38

personal values interventions study findings

Answer 38

low-GPA students showed greater GPA gains & maintenance than the control condition.

Question 39

empathic discipline intervention

Answer 39

provide teachers with non-pejorative reasons for why students may misbehave at school and discouraged labelling students as trouble-makers

Question 40

why do empathic discipline interventions work?

Answer 40

encourages teachers to view school discipline as an opportunity to develop mutual understanding and better relationships with students

Question 41

empathic discipline intervention study method

Answer 41

assigned teachers to read an article supporting a punitive mindset or empathic mindset to approach discipline

Question 42

empathic discipline intervention study findings

Answer 42

• The punitive mindset reminded teachers that punishment is critical for teachers to take control of the classroom, whereas the empathic mindset article argued that good teacher-student relationships are critical for students to learn self-control
• 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

Question 43

empathic vs. traditional discipline

Answer 43

Empathic discipline adopts a different approach in that the target of the intervention are teachers or administrators rather than students

Question 44

similarity between discrimination intervention strategies

Answer 44

While all of these interventions adopt different strategies, each argues that psychological change an be achieved through recursive process (giving tools)

Question 45

academic value interventions study findings

Answer 45

Those with low expectations of the course in the relevance condition performed better & showed greater interest in the course than those in the control condition.

Question 46

recursive processes

Answer 46

the effects of an intervention build on themselves outside of the lab