Medical Education Day - 2014

 Daniel Blash, PhD – WUSM Diversity & Inclusion Leader

 
 Denise M DeCou - WUSM Diversity & Inclusion Leader

 Lynn Dull - Organization Development Consultant - Applied Leadership    

 Heather Hageman - Director of Educational Planning and Program Assessment /

Director, Standardized Patient Program – WUSM Office of Education

 Rochelle Smith –Director, Diversity, Summer Programs and Community Outreach

WUSM Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences

 Steve Taff, PhD, OTR/L - Associate Director of Professional Programs & Instructor
in Occupational Therapy and Medicine

Workshop Session: “Exploring Unconscious Bias in Educational Encounters”

Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014
Widely held self-view in higher education: “I am a fair, unbiased
individual who treats all people in the same way.”

Research demonstrates that individuals who hold strong

egalitarian values and/or believe they are not biased may still
unconsciously or inadvertently behave in a discriminatory
manner (Dovidio, 2001)
To improve climate, we must understand that unconscious
biases do still influence our interactions, even if we are
committed to equality
1. Freudian Psychology - the human mind defends itself
against the discomfort of guilt by denying or refusing to
recognize those ideas, wishes and beliefs that conflict with
what the individual has learned is good or right.

2. Cognitive Psychology – culture (including the media and an

individual’s peers, and authority figures) transmits certain
beliefs and preferences. Because these beliefs are so much a
part of the culture, they are not experienced as explicit
lessons. Instead, they seem part of the individual’s rational
ordering of the world.
 In the past, bias was regarded as aberrant, conscious and
intentional.

 Today, we understand that bias is normative, unconscious and

largely unintentional.

 Social Cognition Theory establishes that mental categories and

personal experiences become “hard-wired” into cognitive
functioning.

 As a result, human biases can be seen as evolutionarily

adaptive behaviors.
 We go out in the world every day and make decisions about what
is safe or not. Much of this decision-making is automatic and
unconscious. Our brains determine whether or not something or
someone is safe before we can even begin to consciously make a
determination.

 When the object, animal, or person is assessed to be dangerous, a

“fight or flight” response occurs in our Amygdala – a part of the
brain that processes alarm.

 Scientists estimate that we are exposed to as many as 11 million

pieces of information at any one time, but our brains can only
functionally deal with about 40. So how do we filter out the rest?

 Answer: we use categories as a form of intellectual short-hand.

Our biases are most likely to be activated by some
key conditions. They are:

 Stress
 Time constraints
 Multi-tasking
 Need for closure
 Fear
Psychologists have identified antecedent conditions that
encourage stereotyping.

Stereotyping is likely to occur when the target has “solo”

or near-solo status (i.e., the only person of color among all
white colleagues or the only woman among all male
colleagues) among an otherwise homogeneous group.

Another condition shown to enable stereotyping in the

employment context is the perceived lack of fit between
the target’s category (i.e., female, of color, etc.) and
occupation.
A study of postdoctoral fellowships awarded by the Medical
Research Council in Sweden found that female candidates
needed substantially more publications (3+ papers in Nature or
Science , 20+ papers in specialty journals such as Infection &
Immunity or Neuroscience) to achieve the same rating as men,
unless they personally knew someone on the panel (Wenneras &
Wold, 1997)

A study of over 300 recommendation letters for medical faculty

at a large US medical school found that letters written for
female applicants differed systematically from those of males
 Reinforced gender schemas of women as teachers & students, men as
researchers & professionals
 Higher percentage of doubt raisers in letters for women (Trix & Psenka,
2003)
Researchers long believed that because implicit associations
develop early in our lives, and because we are often unaware of
their influence, they may be virtually impervious to change.

But recent work suggests that we can reshape our implicit

attitudes and beliefs or at least curb their effects on our behavior.

In particular, there are several strategies that appear to make a

difference:
Information – re: the psychological basis of bias

Motivation - internal (vs. external) motivation to change

Individuation – learning to see diverse others as individuals
rather than as members of groups.

*Direct contact with members of other groups.

Working together on teams, as equals, in pursuit of common

goals.
Context/environment – images of leaders from diverse groups
helps
Organizations that are more diverse adapt more readily,
effectively & creatively to change & challenge (Cox, 1993;
Kanter, 1983; McLeod, Lobel& Cox, 1996)

Scholarship, research & teaching are enhanced by multiple

perspectives (Antonio 2002; Milem, 2003; Nelson & Pellet,
1997; Turner, 2002)

Inclusion of diversity topics in curriculum improves students’

cognitive development, critical thinking, leadership skills &
satisfaction with college (Astin, 1993; Gurin, 1999, 2002;
Milem & Hakuta, 2000; Pascarella, et al., 1996)
Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014
Medical Education Day - 2014