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Teaching

Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of personality and social psychology, 56, 5. https://doi.org/10.1037%2F0022-3514.56.1.5

Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias

Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(1), 5-18. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.56.1.5

Three studies tested basic assumptions derived from a theoretical model based on the dissociation of automatic and controlled processes involved in prejudice. Study 1 supported the model's assumption that high- and low-prejudice persons are equally knowledgeable of the cultural stereotype. The model suggests that the stereotype is automatically activated in the presence of a member (or some symbolic equivalent) of the stereotype group and that low-prejudice responses require controlled inhibition of the automatically activated stereotype. Study 2, which examined the efforts of automatic stereotype activation on the evaluation of ambiguous stereotype-relevant behaviors performed by a race-unspecified person, suggested that when subjects' ability to consciously monitor stereotype activation is precluded, both high- and low-prejudice subjects produce stereotype-congruent evaluations of ambiguous behaviors. Study 3 examined high- and low-prejudice subjects' responses in a consciously directed thought-listing task. Consistent with the model, only low-prejudice subjects inhibited the automatically activated stereotype-congruent thoughts and replaced them with thoughts reflecting equality and negations of the stereotype. The relation between stereotypes and prejudice and implications for prejudice reduction are discussed.
Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Race/Ethnicity, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias, Strategies for Improvement

Devine, P. G., Forscher, P. S., Austin, A. J., & Cox, W. T. L. (2012). Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(6), 1267-1278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.06.003

We developed a multi-faceted prejudice habit-breaking intervention to produce long-term reductions in implicit race bias. The intervention is based on the premise that implicit bias is like a habit that can be broken through a combination of awareness of implicit bias, concern about the effects of that bias, and the application of strategies to reduce bias. In a 12-week longitudinal study, people who received the intervention showed dramatic reductions in implicit race bias. People who were concerned about discrimination or who reported using the strategies showed the greatest reductions. The intervention also led to increases in concern about discrimination and personal awareness of bias over the duration of the study. People in the control group showed none of the above effects. Our results raise the hope of reducing persistent and unintentional forms of discrimination that arise from implicit bias.
Teaching

Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (1998). On the nature of contemporary prejudice: The causes, consequences, and challenges of aversive racism. In J. L. Eberhardt & S. T. Fiske (Eds.), Confronting racism: The problem and the response (pp. 3-32). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc

Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Race/Ethnicity, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias

Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (2000). Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999. Psychological Science, 11(4), 315-319. https://doi.org/10.1111%2F1467-9280.00262

The present study investigated differences over a 10-year period in whites' self-reported racial prejudice and their bias in selection decisions involving black and white candidates for employment. We examined the hypothesis, derived from the aversive-racism framework, that although overt expressions of prejudice may decline significantly across time, subtle manifestations of bias may persist. Consistent with this hypothesis, self-reported prejudice was lower in 1998–1999 than it was in 1988–1989, and at both time periods, white participants did not discriminate against black relative to white candidates when the candidates' qualifications were clearly strong or weak, but they did discriminate when the appropriate decision was more ambiguous. Theoretical and practical implications are considered.
(Workplace) Climate, Diverse teams/perspectives, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Race/Ethnicity, Strategies for Improvement

Durkee, M. I. (2022). How to recruit and retain faculty members of colour in academia. Nature Reviews Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00098-0

Individuals from marginalized ethnic and/or racial backgrounds are underrepresented in faculty positions at US universities. Improving representation will require support of individual faculty members and revamped broad incentive structures.
Funding & Awards, Gender/Sex, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias

Dutt, K., Pfaff, D. L., Bernstein, A. F., Dillard, J. S., & Block, C. J. (2016). Gender differences in recommendation letters for postdoctoral fellowships in geoscience. Nature Geoscience, 9, 805-808. https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fngeo2819

Gender disparities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including the geosciences, are well documented and widely discussed1,2. In the geosciences, despite receiving 40% of doctoral degrees, women hold less than 10% of full professorial positions3. A significant leak in the pipeline occurs during postdoctoral years4, so biases embedded in postdoctoral processes, such as biases in recommendation letters, may be deterrents to careers in geoscience for women. Here we present an analysis of an international data set of 1,224 recommendation letters, submitted by recommenders from 54 countries, for postdoctoral fellowships in the geosciences over the period 2007–2012. We examine the relationship between applicant gender and two outcomes of interest: letter length and letter tone. Our results reveal that female applicants are only half as likely to receive excellent letters versus good letters compared to male applicants. We also find no evidence that male and female recommenders differ in their likelihood to write stronger letters for male applicants over female applicants. Our analysis also reveals significant regional differences in letter length, with letters from the Americas being significantly longer than any other region, whereas letter tone appears to be distributed equivalently across all world regions. These results suggest that women are significantly less likely to receive excellent recommendation letters than their male counterparts at a critical juncture in their career.
Gender/Sex, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Race/Ethnicity, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias

Eaton, A. A., Saunders, J. F., Jacobson, R. K., & West, K. (2020). How gender and race stereotypes impact the advancement of scholars in STEM: Professors’ biased evaluations of physics and biology post-doctoral candidates. Sex Roles, 82,127–141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01052-w (used in Activity A2)

The current study examines how intersecting stereotypes about gender and race influence faculty perceptions of post-doctoral candidates in STEM fields in the United States. Using a fully-crossed, between-subjects experimental design, biology and physics professors (n = 251) from eight large, public, U.S. research universities were asked to read one of eight identical curriculum vitae (CVs) depicting a hypothetical doctoral graduate applying for a post-doctoral position in their field, and rate them for competence, hireability, and likeability. The candidate’s name on the CV was used to manipulate race (Asian, Black, Latinx, and White) and gender (female or male), with all other aspects of the CV held constant across conditions. Faculty in physics exhibited a gender bias favoring the male candidates as more competent and more hirable than the otherwise identical female candidates. Further, physics faculty rated Asian and White candidates as more competent and hirable than Black and Latinx candidates, while those in biology rated Asian candidates as more competent and hirable than Black candidates, and as more hireable than Latinx candidates. An interaction between candidate gender and race emerged for those in physics, whereby Black women and Latinx women and men candidates were rated the lowest in hireability compared to all others. Women were rated more likeable than men candidates across departments. Our results highlight how understanding the underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in STEM requires examining both racial and gender biases as well as how they intersect.
Gender/Sex, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias, Teaching

El-Alayli, A., Hansen-Brown, A. A., & Ceynar, M. (2018). Dancing backwards in high heels: Female professors experience more work demands and special favor requests, particularly from academically entitled students. Sex Roles, 79, 136-150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0872-6

Although the number of U.S. female professors has risen steadily in recent years, female professors are still subject to different student expectations and treatment. Students continue to perceive and expect female professors to be more nurturing than male professors are. We examined whether students may consequently request more special favors from female professors. In a survey of professors (n = 88) across the United States, Study 1 found that female (versus male) professors reported getting more requests for standard work demands, special favors, and friendship behaviors, with the latter two mediating the professor gender effect on professors’ self-reported emotional labor. Study 2 utilized an experimental design using a fictitious female or male professor, with college student participants (n = 121) responding to a scenario in which a special favor request might be made of the professor. The results indicated that academically entitled students (i.e., those who feel deserving of success in college regardless of effort/performance) had stronger expectations that a female (versus male) professor would grant their special favor requests. Those expectations consequently increased students’ likelihood of making the requests and of exhibiting negative emotional and behavioral reactions to having those requests denied. This work highlights the extra burdens felt by female professors. We discuss possible moderators of these effects as well as the importance of developing strategies for preventing them.
Teaching

Ely, R. J. & Thomas, D. A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative science quarterly, 46, 229–273. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667087

Diverse teams/perspectives, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Race/Ethnicity

Ely, R. J., & Thomas, D. A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2), 229-273. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667087

This paper develops theory about the conditions under which cultural diversity enhances or detracts from work group functioning. From qualitative research in three culturally diverse organizations, we identified three different perspectives on workforce diversity: the integration-and-learning perspective, the access-and-legitimacy perspective, and the discrimination-and-fairness perspective. The perspective on diversity a work group held influenced how people expressed and managed tensions related to diversity, whether those who had been traditionally underrepresented in the organization felt respected and valued by their colleagues, and how people interpreted the meaning of their racial identity at work. These, in turn, had implications for how well the work group and its members functioned. All three perspectives on diversity had been successful in motivating managers to diversify their staffs, but only the integration-and-learning perspective provided the rationale and guidance needed to achieve sustained benefits from diversity. By identifying the conditions that intervene between the demographic composition of a work group and its functioning, our research helps to explain mixed results on the relationship between cultural diversity and work group outcomes.
Funding & Awards, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Race/Ethnicity

Erosheva, E. A., Grant, S., Chen, M. C., Lindner, M. D., Nakamura, R. K., & Lee, C. J. (2020). NIH peer review: Criterion scores completely account for racial disparities in overall impact scores. Science Advances, 6(23), eaaz4868. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz4868

Previous research has found that funding disparities are driven by applications’ final impact scores and that only a portion of the black/white funding gap can be explained by bibliometrics and topic choice. Using National Institutes of Health R01 applications for council years 2014–2016, we examine assigned reviewers’ preliminary overall impact and criterion scores to evaluate whether racial disparities in impact scores can be explained by application and applicant characteristics. We hypothesize that differences in commensuration—the process of combining criterion scores into overall impact scores—disadvantage black applicants. Using multilevel models and matching on key variables including career stage, gender, and area of science, we find little evidence for racial disparities emerging in the process of combining preliminary criterion scores into preliminary overall impact scores. Instead, preliminary criterion scores fully account for racial disparities—yet do not explain all of the variability—in preliminary overall impact scores.
Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias, Teaching

Finegan, T. A., & Siegfried, J. J. (2000). Are student ratings of teaching effectiveness influenced by instructors’ English language proficiency? The American Economist, 44(2), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/056943450004400202

We use data from norming the third edition of the Test of Understanding College Economics to exam ine whether instructors for whom English is a second language (ESLs) receive lower student ratings of teaching effectiveness in principles of economics courses, holding constant what students learn in the course. The results suggest that student ratings of ESL instructors are, on average, about 0.4 points lower, on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0, than the ratings of native English speaking instructors. Most of this deficit can be attributed to differences in how the two groups of instructors teach their courses and evaluate the knowledge of their students.
Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias, Strategies for Improvement

Fiske, S. T. (2002). What we know now about bias and intergroup conflict, the problem of the century. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(4), 123-128. https://doi.org/10.1111%2F1467-8721.00183

After nearly a century's study, what do psychologists now know about intergroup bias and conflict? Most people reveal unconscious, subtle biases, which are relatively automatic, cool, indirect, ambiguous, and ambivalent. Subtle biases underlie ordinary discrimination: comfort with one's own in–group, plus exclusion and avoidance of out–groups. Such biases result from internal conflict between cultural ideals and cultural biases. A small minority of people, extremists, do harbor blatant biases that are more conscious, hot, direct, and unambiguous. Blatant biases underlie aggression, including hate crimes. Such biases result from perceived intergroup conflict over economics and values, in a world perceived to be hierarchical and dangerous. Reduction of both subtle and blatant bias results from education, economic opportunity, and constructive intergroup contact.
(Workplace) Climate, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, LGBTQ+, Schemas/Stereotypes/Evaluation Bias

Freeman, J. B. (2020). Measuring and resolving LGBTQ disparities in STEM. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7(2), 141-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732220943232

LGBTQ people have pioneered major scientific advances, but they face challenges in STEM that ultimately waste human talent and hinder scientific progress. Growing evidence suggests that LGBTQ people in STEM are statistically underrepresented, encounter non-supportive environments, and leave STEM at an alarming rate. Potential factors driving LGBTQ disparities in STEM include bias and discrimination, misalignments of occupational interests with STEM stereotypes, and STEM norms of impersonality that isolate LGBTQ people. LGBTQ retention shares common psychological processes with female and racial minority retention such as STEM identification and belonging. The key barrier to better understanding and addressing LGBTQ challenges in STEM is the lack of sexual orientation or gender identity (SO/GI) demographic data on the U.S. STEM workforce. Policy recommendations include (a) adding SO/GI measures to federal STEM-census surveys; (b) broadening agencies’ definition of underrepresented groups to include LGBTQ people; and (c) incorporating LGBTQ identity into accountability systems and diversity programs at STEM institutions.
Teaching

Freeman, R. B. & Huang, W. (2015). Collaborating with people like me: Ethnic coauthorship within the United States. Journal of Labor Economics, 33, S289–S318. https://doi.org/10.1086/678973

(Workplace) Climate, Gender/Sex, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure

Fritsch, N. S. (2015). At the leading edge – does gender still matter? A qualitative study of prevailing obstacles and successful coping strategies in academia. Current Sociology, 63(4), 547-565. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392115576527

Recent developments indicate positive changes for women in academia, especially for those in higher positions. Statistics on the situation in Austria show that the proportion of female academics and of women in management positions in academia is increasing slowly but steadily. The present article examines explanations for this development and analyses female biographies in academia. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews conducted with the most successful women at Austrian universities, focusing on the obstacles these women encountered and how they managed to overcome them. The findings are arranged in two sections: (1) the results point to the existence of significant impediments to female academic careers; these include informal encounters, social networks (which are usually male-dominated) and the requirement to be both geographically mobile and to cope with family issues at the same time; (2) the analysis elaborates on various coping strategies designed to overcome these obstacles in an effort to attain leading positions.
Gender/Sex, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Race/Ethnicity

Fry, R., Kennedy, B., & Funk, C. (2021). STEM jobs see uneven progress in increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity. Pew Research Center.

Gender/Sex, Group Disparities & intergroup relations

Gallup Organization. (2020). The Gallup Poll - Housework, June 2019. Washington, DC: Gallup Organization. Retrieved May 4, 2020 from: https://news.gallup.com/poll/283979/women-handle-main-household-tasks.aspx

Funding & Awards, Gender/Sex, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Mentorship, Strategies for Improvement

Gardiner, M., Tiggemann, M., Kearns, H., & Marshall, K. (2007). Show me the money! An empirical analysis of mentoring outcomes for women in academia. Higher Education Research and Development, 26(4), 425-442. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360701658633

This paper discusses and comprehensively evaluates a mentoring scheme for junior female academ- ics. The program aimed to address the under-representation of women in senior positions by increasing participation in networks and improving women’s research performance. A multifaceted, longitudinal design, including a control group, was used to evaluate the success of mentoring in terms of the benefits for the women and for the university. The results indicate mentoring was very beneficial, showing that mentees were more likely to stay in the university, received more grant income and higher level of promotion, and had better perceptions of themselves as academics compared with non-mentored female academics. This indicates that not only do women themselves benefit from mentoring but that universities can confidently implement well-designed initiatives, knowing that they will receive a significant return on investment.
Teaching

Gershenson, S., Holt, S. B. & Papageorge, N. W. (2016). Who believes in me? The effect of student–teacher demographic match on teacher expectations. Economics of Education Review, 52, 209–224. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.econedurev.2016.03.002

Diverse teams/perspectives, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Mentorship, Race/Ethnicity

Gershenson, S., Holt, S. B., & Papageorge, N. W. (2016). Who believes in me? The effect of student-teacher demographic match on teacher expectations. Economics of Education Review, 52, 209-224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.03.002

Teachers are an important source of information for traditionally disadvantaged students. However, little is known about how teachers form expectations and whether they are systematically biased. We investigate whether student–teacher demographic mismatch affects high school teachers’ expectations for students’ educational attainment. Using a student fixed effects strategy that exploits expectations data from two teachers per student, we find that non-black teachers of black students have significantly lower expectations than do black teachers. These effects are larger for black male students and math teachers. Our findings add to a growing literature on the role of limited information in perpetuating educational attainment gaps.
Funding & Awards, Group Disparities & intergroup relations, Hiring, Promotion, & Tenure, Race/Ethnicity

Ginther, D. K., Schaffer, W. T., Schnell, J., Masimore, B., Liu, F., Haak, L. L., & Kington, R. (2011). Race, ethnicity, and NIH research awards. Science, 333(6045), 1015-1019. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1196783

We investigated the association between a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 applicant’s self-identified race or ethnicity and the probability of receiving an award by using data from the NIH IMPAC II grant database, the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, and other sources. Although proposals with strong priority scores were equally likely to be funded regardless of race, we find that Asians are 4 percentage points and black or African-American applicants are 13 percentage points less likely to receive NIH investigator-initiated research funding compared with whites. After controlling for the applicant’s educational background, country of origin, training, previous research awards, publication record, and employer characteristics, we find that black applicants remain 10 percentage points less likely than whites to be awarded NIH research funding. Our results suggest some leverage points for policy intervention.
Teaching

Ginther, D. K., Schaffer, W. T., Schnell, J., Masimore, B., Liu, F., Haak, L. L., & Kington, R. (2011). Race, ethnicity, and NIH research awards. Science, 333(6045), 1015-1019. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1196783

(Workplace) Climate, Race/Ethnicity, Strategies for Improvement, Teaching

Good, J. J., Bourne, K. A., & Drake, R. G. (2020). The impact of classroom diversity philosophies on the STEM performance of undergraduate students of color. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 91, 104026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104026

Using a large, nationally representative sample of first year undergraduate students we tested whether instructors' use of diversity philosophies could impact the learning of new math and science content among Students of Color and White students. Participants (N = 688) were randomly assigned to one of nine simulated online course environments using a 3 (diversity philosophy: Multicultural, Colorblind, Control) × 3 (lesson: Chemistry, Physics, Math) × 2 (participant race: Students of Color, White students) between-participants experimental design. After listening to an audio welcome message from the instructor and reading the course syllabus, both of which contained the embedded diversity philosophy manipulation, participants watched a novel 10-minute lesson, completed a comprehension quiz, as well as measures of belonging and perceived instructor bias. Students of Color showed greater comprehension of the math/science lesson in the multicultural condition compared to the colorblind condition. Students of Color also perceived the instructor to be less biased in the multicultural condition compared to the colorblind condition. White students tended to either be unaffected or oppositely affected by the diversity philosophy manipulation. Overall, results suggest that college instructors' use of multicultural (or colorblind) language sends a signal of inclusion (or exclusion) to Students of Color, affecting not only their social experience in the class but also their learning potential.