mitigating unconscious bias in the workplace
TRANSCRIPT
An Interaction Design Approach to Mitigating Unconscious Bias in the
Tech Workplace"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Google - Making the Unconscious Conscious
What is Unconscious Bias?• Human beings are
wired to see patterns as a survival tool.
• Our perceptions are shaped by past experience, indirect/direct messaging,
The important task is to break the image information down into meaningful components, and thereby perceive the nature of the
objects in view.[
Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated
involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.
…implicit biases are not accessible through introspection.
Identity Triggers
ETHNICITY
Disability Skin color
Weight
Gender
Height
Body Language
Clothing
Attractiveness
sexual orientation
Accent
Over 1,000 studies in the past 10 years alone have conclusively shown that if you’re human, you have bias, and that it impacts almost every variation of
human identity: Race, gender, sexual orientation, body size, religion, accent, height, hand dominance, etc. The question is not "do we have bias?" but
rather "which are ours? [Fast Company; 2014]
Micro-Aggressions
Micro-Aggressions
“Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or
unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of
color”. -Developed in 1970 by a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist named Chester M. Pierce to refer to both verbal and non-verbal racial indignities targeting African
Americans.
ScenariosMicroInsults
MicroInvalidations
Microassault
Negative Impacts • Exclusion from formal or informal networks• Denial of mentoring or developmental opportunities such
as secondments and training that was made available to others
• Differential management practices such as excessive monitoring and documentation or deviation from written policies or standard practices
• Disproportionate blame for an incident• Assignment to less desirable positions or job duties• Treating normal differences of opinion as confrontational
or insubordinate• Characterizing normal communication as rude or
aggressive• Penalizing a person for failing to get along with someone
else, e.g. a co-worker or manager, when one of the reasons for the tension is racially discriminatory attitudes or behaviour of the co-worker or manager [Jaferi, B.A., J.D., T. (2014)]
“Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell“It seems not only unfair, but patently absurd to choose a CEO because of height, just like it is unfair and absurd to give employees lower performance evaluations solely because they are overweight. Or to prescribe medical procedures to people more often because of their race. Or to treat the same people different ways because of their clothing. Or even to call on boys more often than girls when they raise their hands in school.
And yet, all of these things continuously happen, and they are but a small sampling of the hundreds of ways we make decisions every day in favor of one group, and to the detriment of others, without even realizing we’re doing it. “
Why the Tech
Industry?
Why Diversity is Important
“Identity diversity among intelligent people on a team
contributes more to effective problem-
solving, than a team comprising of the best performing,
intelligent people, without identity
diversity” Scientific American,
2016
Leaders who give diverse voices equal airtime are nearly twice as likely as others to unleash value-driving insights, and employees in a “speak up”
culture are 3.5 times as likely to contribute their full innovative potential. - Harvard Business Review, 2013
Employees of firms with 2-D diversity are 45% likelier to report a growth in market share over the previous year and 70% likelier
to report that the firm captured a new market.
Harvard Business ReviewResearch, 2013
Most respondents, however—78%—work at companies that lack 2-D diversity in
leadership.
Without diverse leadership, women are 20% less likely than straight white men to win
endorsement for their ideas; people of color are 24% less likely; and LGBTs are 21% less
likely.
Negative Impacts on WorkplaceThe economic literature finds that discriminationin the workplace -- whether based on gender, ethnicity, race, religion or other factors — has serious economic consequences.
-Lower Profits-Reduced Wages & Underemployment-Reduced Economic Growth-Higher Turnovers & Employee Complaints-Reduces Job Performance
“There’s a price to be paid for workplace discrimination—$64 billion. That amount represents the annual estimated cost of losing and replacing more than 2 million American workers who leave their jobs each year due to unfairness and discrimination.” - Center for American Progress
Is it Necessary to Diversify?
“It’s crucial for politicians, community leaders, and policymakers to pay attention to these changes as their decisions about how to incorporate this generation into the new American mainstream hold important implications for our nation’s future prosperity.”-Brookings Institute
Challenges to Addressing Unconscious Bias
discrimination
oppression
dominance
heterosexism
male privilege
subordination gender expectations
microaggressioninequality
double standards
Reactions to Trainings/Forums
“It is easier to become defensive, argue the meaning or ignore these interactions than it
is to learn how the language of diversity affects others and impacts all aspects of our lives. And, if we can’t talk productively about something, then we can’t do anything about
it.”
Direct Approach“Because perpetrators are generally well-meaning and microaggressions are subtle,
their recipients often experience attributional ambiguity, which may lead them
to dismiss the experience and blame themselves as overly sensitive.[17] If
challenged by the minority person or an observer, perpetrators will often defend their microaggression as a misunderstanding, a joke, or something small that shouldn't be
blown out of proportion.[18]”Ellen Pao “The Pao Effect”
How can an interaction design approach help to mitigate unconscious
bias in the tech industry?
Empathy Refers to our ability to identify and understand other peoples’emotions.
• listening• understanding• performance
• employee satisfaction
Virtual Reality & Empathy
Exploring and experimenting with the potential of Virtual Reality to Mitigate Unconscious Bias
.
Virtual Reality & Machine Learning
Virtual Reality --Game Development to increase empathy; reveal bias; mitigate bias; improve social
behavior, decision-making.
Virtual Reality as Training Tool
VR Behavior Impacts
Machine Learning -- Gather data, and use algorithms to discover hidden patterns of unconscious behavior affecting decision-making
Design ApproachesIDEO• Cultural Probe• Cross-Cultural
Comparisons• Cognitive Task Analysis• Cognitive Mapping• Character Profiles• Card Sort• Extreme User Interviews*• Experience Prototype*• A Day In The Life• Try it Yourself*• Surveys & Questionnaires• Social Network Mapping
My Experience Prototype
Identifying High Risk Scenarios
Performance Reviews Leadership Decisions
UX Research
‘Anti-Bias’ Exercise Games• Exposure & Empathy
• Bias Awareness: Find the 3 qualified candidates for this role in a room of ten
different diverse characters. o Provide each diverse character with a visual cue that might clue into person’s
hobby relative to the task)
• Targeted Bias Mitigation: First Person character relies on help from diverse characters
• preferably focused on their high bias areas) to overcome challenges/get to higher levels?
‘Anti-Bias’ Exercise Games• Data Measurement
Maze with room of different faces and diversity. Character has to find a way out of the maze with clues in each room.
o Machine learning or manual analysis of choices made and interaction in various rooms, does how long a person stay in a room reveal bias?
o Should be noted in association with comfort levels, route choices.
• Scenarios: RecruitmentFind the 3 best candidates for the job in a room of ten different people within 2 minutes. o Objective: Exercising the ability to look for other factors besides
physical characteristics to rely on for best merit.Ex: If User has high bias towards ppl with disability; can play a
game where they have to rely on help from people with these attributes to advance in the game.
Proposed OutcomeSeveral games designed to mitigate bias and promote empathy in identified high-risk bias + common scenarios in the workplace that can be played any time.
Ideally, games will be played a few minutes prior to entering real life workplace scenarios.
Or can also be played at any time, frequent basis during breaks taken throughout the workday as a professional development tool.