BUILDING EVIDENCE
Diversity in the Biomedical Workforce
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has looked both inward and outward to address the complex issue of parity in the scientific workforce. The agency has taken steps to better understand the science of diversity, approaches to increase opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities to succeed in biomedical research, and reflected upon systemic bias that has been shown in each stage of their submission and grantmaking process. This body of evidence is highlighted here.
- How Criterion Scores Predict the Overall Impact Score and Funding Outcomes for National Institutes of Health Peer-Reviewed Applications
Eblen et al.
In this study, the factors associated with successful funding outcomes of research project grant (R01) applications are explored, which is critical to understanding barriers and bias to women and underrepresented researchers seeking funding. - National Institutes of Health Addresses the Science of Diversity.
Valantine & Collins
This article identifies four diversity challenges to diversify the scientific workforce: research evidence for diversity’s impact on the quality and outputs of science; evidence-based approaches to recruitment and training; individual and institutional barriers to workforce diversity; and a national strategy for eliminating barriers to career transition, with scientifically based approaches for scaling and dissemination. - Biomedical Research: Strength from Diversity.
Wilder
This article summarizes steps that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has undertaken to diversify the biomedical research workforce. - Are Race, Ethnicity, and Medical School Affiliation Associated with NIH R01 Type 1 Award Probability for Physician Investigators?
Ginther et al.,
This study finds that applications from blacks have a lower probability of being awarded R01 Type 1 funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), regardless of the investigator’s degree. - Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and National Institutes of Health R01 Research Awards: Is There Evidence of a Double Bind for Women of Color?
Ginther et al.
This study finds that differences by race/ethnicity explain the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding gap for women of color. Findings of a lower submission rate for women and an increased likelihood that they will submit only one proposal are consistent with research showing that women avoid competition. - Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards.
Ginther et al.
This study found that 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, the study finds that black applicants remain 10 percentage points less likely than whites to be awarded NIH research funding. - Educational Outcomes from the Maximizing Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (MARC U-STAR) Program
Hall
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) analyzed the educational outcomes of 9,000 trainees who participated in the NIGMS MARC U-STAR program. The goal of the program is to enhance the pool of students from underrepresented groups earning baccalaureate and Ph.D. degrees in biomedical research fields. - Measuring Diversity of the National Institutes of Health-Funded Workforce.
Heggeness, et al.
This study found that the representation of women and underrepresented groups in NIH-supported postdoc fellowships and traineeships and mentored career development programs was greater than their representation in the relevant labor market. The same analysis found these demographic groups are less represented in the NIH-funded independent investigator pool. - Diversifying Science: Intervention Programs Moderate the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Motivation and Career Choice.
Woodcock A, Hernandez PR, Schultz PW.
The long-standing National Institutes of Health Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) training program has been shown to be effective at retaining underrepresented minorities in science. This study argues that programs such as RISE may alter the experience and impact of stereotype threat on academic achievement goals and future engagement in a scientific career. - Men disproportionately win NIH’s plum award for young scientists.
Wadman, Meredith
Men have consistently won a larger percentage of NIH Early Independence Awards than their percentage representation in the applicant pool. This research is highlighted here.
Science of Diversity
A plethora of research has been conducted focusing on how diversity and heterogenous collaboration contributes to innovation across settings such as the workplace and in group discussion, research teams, and institutions of higher education. The following body of evidence explores how and to what extent demographic diversity impacts research proposals, faculty hiring practices, business performance, and more.
- NIH funding longevity by gender. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Hechtman, L. A., Moore, N. P., Schulkey, C. E., Miklos, A. C., Calcagno, A. M., Aragon, R., & Greenberg, J. H.
This study found that women had similar funding longevity as men after they received their first major NIH grants, contradicting the common assumption that across all career stages, women experience accelerated attrition compared with men. Despite longevity similarities, women composed only 31% of grantees in our analysis. This discrepancy in grantee demographics suggests that efforts may be best directed toward encouraging women to enter academia and supporting their continued grant submissions. - Examining trends in the diversity of the U.S. National Institutes of Health participating and funded workforce
Nikaj, S., Roychowdhury, D., Lund, P. K., Matthews, M., Pearson, K.
This study findings suggest a need to prioritize investments and support early-stage investigators (ESIs) and new investigators, groups in which women and racial and ethnic minorities represent a larger proportion of the applicant pool, to enhance diversity in the NIH-funded workforce. - Effects of Racial Diversity on Complex Thinking in College Students.
Antonio et al.
An experiment varying the racial opinion composition in small-group discussions was conducted with college students to test for effects on the perceived novelty of group members’ contributions to discussion. The study found that racial and opinion minorities were perceived as contributing to novelty. The study supports the educational significance of race in higher education. - Gender-Heterogeneous Working Groups Produce Higher Quality Science.
Campbell et al.
This study found that a gender-diverse team produced journal articles perceived to be higher quality by peers than a team comprised of talented individuals of the same gender. Peer-reviewed publications with gender-heterogeneous author received 34% more citations than publications produced by gender-uniform authors. - Why Are Some STEM Fields More Gender Balanced Than Others?
Cheryan S, Ziegler SA, Montoya AK, Jiang L.
This study explores why some women represented in some science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields more than others. A review of the most commonly cited factors explaining gender disparities in STEM participation and investigation of whether these factors explain differential gender participation across STEM fields is conducted. A model with three overarching factors to explain gender gaps in computer science, engineering, and physics than in biology, chemistry, and mathematics are introduced: (a) masculine cultures that signal a lower sense of belonging to women than men, (b) a lack of sufficient early experience with computer science, engineering, and physics, and (c) gender gaps in self-efficacy. - Systematic Inequality and Hierarchy in Faculty Hiring Networks.
Clauset et al.
This study finds that faculty hiring follows a common and steeply hierarchical structure that reflects social inequality. Additionally, doctoral prestige alone better predicts career placement than a U.S. News & World Report rank, women generally place worse than men, and increased institutional prestige leads to increased faculty production, better faculty placement, and a more influential position within the discipline. - Does Female Representation in Top Management Improve Firm Performance? A Panel Data Investigation.
Dezsö & Ross
This study finds that female representation in top management positions improves firm performance but only to the extent that a firm’s strategy is focused on innovation, in which context the informational and social benefits of gender diversity and the behaviors associated with women in management are likely to be especially important for managerial task performance. - Collaborating with People Like Me: Ethnic Co-authorship within the United States
Freeman et al.
By examining the ethnic identity of the co-authors of over 1.2 million U.S. journal articles, a striking change in the ethnic composition of authors has been found from 1985 to 2008, with increasing collaboration among researchers from China and other developing countries. The greater variety of ethnicity is associated with considerable homophily among research teams, as persons of similar ethnicity tend to work together far more frequently than can be explained by chance. - Groups of Diverse Problem Solvers Can Outperform Groups of High-ability Problem Solvers.
Hong & Page
This study introduces a framework for modeling diverse problem-solving agents. The study found that when selecting a problem-solving team from a diverse population of intelligent agents, a team of randomly selected agents outperforms a team comprised of the best-performing agents. This result relies on the intuition that, as the initial pool of problem solvers becomes large, the best-performing agents necessarily become similar in the space of problem solvers. Their relatively greater ability is more than offset by their lack of problem-solving diversity. - Ethnic Diversity Deflates Price Bubbles.
Levine et al.
This study found that market prices fit true values 58% better in diverse markets, then in homogenous markets. The findings suggest that price bubbles arise not only from individual errors or financial conditions, but also from the social context of decision making. The evidence may inform public discussion on ethnic diversity: it may be beneficial not only for providing variety in perspectives and skills, but also because diversity facilitates enhanced deliberation and upends conformity. - When in Rome… Learn Why the Romans do What They Do: How Multicultural Learning Experiences Facilitate Creativity
Maddux et al.
Research suggests that living in and adapting to foreign cultures facilitates creativity, which this study found to be true. This study found that multicultural learning is a critical component of increased creativity. - Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases Favor Male Students.
Moss-Racusin et al.
In this study, science faculty from research-intensive universities rated the application materials of a student-who was randomly assigned either a male or female name-for a laboratory manager position. Faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent than the identical female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. Female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. - What is the Impact of Gender Diversity on Technology Business Performance?
National Center for Women and Information Technology
This report, by the National Center for Women & Information Technology, provides a literature review of research on gender-diverse teams. Gender-diverse teams demonstrate superior productivity and financial performance compared with homogenous teams. The report also reviews strategies to maximize the potential benefits of gender diversity on technical teams. - Gender Diversity and Corporate Performance
Rohner & Dougan
This report assesses the impact of female board representation. Among its findings, the article reported that companies with at least one woman on their board of directors outperformed those with no women on their boards.
Building Evidence
Career transition gaps have proven to be major fault lines for women and underrepresented minorities where attrition from biomedical engineering careers grows at each passing stage. The following body of evidence explores diversity drivers and outcomes at various career stages for scientists.
- The Other Physician-Scientist Problem: Where Have all the Young Girls Gone?
Andrews
This op-ed explores the challenges women face in exploring a career as a Physician-Scientist. - The effect of an intervention to break the gender bias habit for faculty at one institution: a cluster randomized, controlled trial.
Carnes, M., Devine, P. G., Manwell, L. B., Byars-Winston, A., Fine, E., Ford, C. E., … & Palta, M. (2015)
This study finds that an intervention that facilitates behavioral change can help faculty combat gender bias and alter department climate in ways that support the career advancement of women in academic medicine, science, and engineering. - Training and Retaining of Underrepresented Minority Physician Scientists – An African-American Perspective: NICHD AAP Workshop on Research in Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine.
Dennery
This article defines why minority physician scientists have a harder time becoming successful than their majority colleagues and identifies solutions for change. - The Mentoring Competency Assessment: Validation of a New Instrument to Evaluate Skills of Research Mentors.
Fleming et al.
This study validates a tool for mentorship competency. - Supporting faculty mentoring through the use of creative technologies: There’s an app for that.
Frank, D.L., Rinehart, J., Kenney, K. (2016).
This paper highlights a pilot program for the development of an e-based program to improve the quality of mentoring for junior faculty at one higher education institution. - Reducing Implicit Gender Leadership Bias in Academic Medicine With an Educational Intervention.
Girod S, Fassiotto M, Grewal D, Ku MC, Sriram N, Nosek BA, Valantine H. (2016).
This study assessed faculty members’ perceptions of bias and their attitudes toward gender and leadership. Results indicated that an intervention significantly changed all faculty members’ perceptions of bias. - Sustaining Optimal Motivation: A Longitudinal Analysis of Interventions to Broaden Participation of Underrepresented Students in STEM.
Hernandez et al.
This study finds that (a) engagement in undergraduate research was the only factor that buffered underrepresented students against an increase in performance-avoidance goals over time; (b) growth in scientific self-identity exhibited a strong positive effect on growth in task and performance-approach goals over time; (c) only task goals positively influenced students’ cumulative grade point average, over and above baseline grade point average; and (d) performance-avoidance goals predicted student attrition from the STEM pipeline. - A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mentoring Interventions for Underrepresented Minorities.
Lewis et al.
This randomized controlled trial showed a potential short-term effect of mentor training on changing basic psychological need satisfaction of underrepresented scholars with their mentors. Despite the lack of sustained effect of either mentor training or peer mentoring, these short-term changes suggest feasibility and potential for future study. - A Comprehensive Career-Success Model for Physician–Scientists
Rubio et al.
This study developed a comprehensive model to assess factors associated with career success for physician-scientists. - Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement.
Sauermann & Roach
This study provides insights into the career preferences of junior scientists across the life sciences, physics, and chemistry. They show that the attractiveness of academic careers decreases significantly over the course of the PhD program, despite the fact that advisors strongly encourage academic careers over non-academic careers. - The Academy for Future Science Faculty: Randomized Controlled Trial of Theory-driven Coaching to Shape Development and Diversity of Early-career Scientists
Thakore et al.
This study tests a coaching method designed for doctoral students to increase diversity meant to complement mentoring practices. - Training and Retaining of Underrepresented Minority Physician Scientists – a Hispanic Perspective: NICHD-AAP Workshop on Research in Neonatology
Valcarcel et al.
The underrepresentation of Hispanic physician scientists is explored, including recommendations to improve recruitment and training of Hispanic physician scientists. - A Culture Conducive to Women’s Academic Success: Development of a Measure
Westring et al.
The authors defined the construct of a culture conducive to women’s academic success and created a measure to evaluate it. - Diversifying Science: Intervention Programs Moderate the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Motivation and Career Choice.
Woodcock A, Hernandez PR, Schultz PW.
The National Institutes of Health Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) training program has been shown to be effective at retaining underrepresented minorities in science. This study explores the impact of the program on responses to stereotype threat and gleans insight into the success of intervention programs. - Whose Culture has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth
Yosso
This article conceptualizes community cultural wealth as a critical race theory challenge to traditional interpretations of cultural capital. Acknowledging the strengths that underrepresented minorities build through their communities can be intertwined into educational efforts to combat social and racial injustice.
Sustaining Diversity
Interventions, approaches, and innovative support programs designed to sustain and increase women and underrepresented minority participation and duration in research careers are an important part of ushering change to a homogenous research workforce. The following body of evidence explores these techniques for breaking through the glass ceiling and broadening participation in science. For more information, visit What Works.
- The Effect of an Intervention to Break the Gender Bias Habit for Faculty at One Institution: A Cluster Randomized, Controlled Trial.
Carnes et al.
The authors implemented a pair-matched, single-blind, cluster randomized, controlled study of a gender-bias-habit-changing intervention at a large public university. This intervention facilitated intentional behavioral change that helped faculty break the gender bias habit and change department climate in ways that support the career advancement of women in academic medicine, science, and engineering. - Addressing the Gender Gap among Patent Holders through Invention Education Policies
Couch, Stephanie; Estabrooks, Leigh B.; Skukauskaite, Audra
This article reports findings from the study of the Lemelson-MIT Program’s 14-year-old high school InvenTeams initiative and related policy implications for increasing gender diversity among U.S. patent holders through invention education in high school. The initiative has engaged more than 2,200 high school students (34% female) in inventing, with seven of the 229 teams obtaining U.S. patents. - Incubating the Research Independence of a Medical Scientist Training Program Graduate: A Case Study.
Dzirasa et al.
The authors designed and implemented an alternative postgraduate training model characterized by early research engagement, strategic mentoring, unyoked clinical and research milestones, and dedicated financial support for a single trainee. The pilot training experiment was so successful that the trainee secured an NIH project grant and completed his transition to research independence 3.5 years after starting the experimental training schedule-nearly 9 years earlier (based on age) than is typical for MD/PhDs transitioning from mentored to independent research. This success has demonstrated that unyoking research engagement from conventional calendar-based clinical training milestones is a feasible, effective means of incubating research independence. - Closing Diversity Gaps in Innovation: Gender, Race, and Income Disparities in Patenting and Commercialization of Inventions
Fechner, Holly; Shapanka, Matthew S.
This article provides recommendations for policymakers concerning ways to close the gender, race, and income gaps that persist in the innovation ecosystem. - Career Development among American Biomedical Postdocs
Gibbs et al.
This study finds that postdocs report increased knowledge about career options but lower clarity about their career goals relative to PhD entry. The majority of postdocs were offered structured career development at their postdoctoral institutions, but less than one-third received this from their graduate departments. Postdocs from all social backgrounds reported significant declines in interest in faculty careers at research-intensive universities and increased interest in non-research careers; however, there were differences in the magnitude and period of training during which these changes occurred across gender and race/ethnicity. - Biomedical Science Ph.D. Career Interest Patterns by Race/Ethnicity and Gender
Gibbs et al.
This study finds that the persistence of disparities in the career interests of Ph.D. recipients suggests that a supply-side (or “pipeline”) framing of biomedical workforce diversity challenges may limit the effectiveness of efforts to attract and retain the best and most diverse workforce. - What do I Want to be With My PhD? The Roles of Personal Values and Structural Dynamics in Shaping the Career Interests of Recent Biomedical Science PhD Graduates.
Gibbs & Griffin
This study illuminates the complexity of career choice and suggests attracting the best, most diverse academic workforce requires institutional leaders and policy makers go beyond developing individual skill, attending to individuals’ values and promoting institutional and systemic reforms. - By Whom and When is Women’s Expertise Recognized? The Interactive Effects of Gender and Education in Science and Engineering Teams
Joshi
This article develops and tests a framework that identifies the conditions under which the expertise of men and women is recognized and utilized in teams. Results show that evaluations of the expertise of female targets are not directly predicted by their educational level but are contingent on the gender similarity between the actor and the target, the actor’s gender, and the actor’s gender identification. Furthermore, the expertise of highly educated women is utilized to a greater extent in teams with a higher proportion of women. Finally, teams with a higher proportion of highly educated women are also more productive in disciplines with greater female faculty representation. - The Effects of Team Diversity on Team Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review of Team Demography
Horwitz & Horwitz
In this study, the effects of task-related and bio-demographic diversity at the group-level were meta-analyzed to test the hypothesis of synergistic performance resulting from diverse employee teams. Support was found for the positive impact of task-related diversity on team performance although bio-demographic diversity was not significantly related to team performance. - How to Break the Cycle of Low Workforce Diversity: A Model for Change.
O’Brien KR, Scheffer M, van Nes EH, van der Lee R.
This study demonstrates how bias in employee appointment and departure can trap organizations in a state with much lower diversity than the applicant pool: a workforce diversity “poverty trap”. Results also illustrate that if turnover rate is low, employee diversity takes a very long time to change, even in the absence of any bias. The predicted rate of change in workforce composition depends on the rate at which employees enter and leave the organization, and on three measures of inclusion: applicant diversity, appointment bias and departure bias. - Strategies to Close the Gender Gap in Invention and Technology Commercialization
Sexton, Kelly B.; Ligler, Frances S.
This paper proposes practical approaches that technology transfer offices can implement to address the gender gap in invention and technology commercialization.
Mitigating Obstacles
Women and underrepresented minorities face many obstacles for success in biomedical engineering, including sociocultural factors that can contribute to attrition from the field. The following body of evidence explores these sociocultural factors and offers techniques to mitigate obstacles to broadening participation in science.
- But You Don’t Look Like a Scientist!: Women Scientists with Feminine Appearance are Deemed Less Likely to be Scientists.
Banchefsky et al.
Two studies examined whether subtle variations in feminine appearance erroneously convey a woman’s likelihood of being a scientist. - Why they leave: The impact of stereotype threat on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math and engineering majors.
Beasley MA, Fischer MJ.
This study finds that that stereotype threat has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of women, minorities, and surprisingly, white men leaving science, technology, engineering and math majors. - Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests.
Bian L, Leslie SJ, Cimpian A.
Stereotypes may associate high-level intellectual ability with men more than women. These stereotypes discourage women’s pursuit of many prestigious careers; that is, women are underrepresented in fields whose members cherish brilliance (such as physics and philosophy). The study shows that these stereotypes are endorsed by, and influence the interests of, children as young as 6. - Imagining stereotypes away: the moderation of implicit stereotypes through mental imagery.
Blair IV, Ma JE, Lenton AP.
This study suggests that implicit stereotypes are malleable, and that controlled processes, such as mental imagery, may influence the stereotyping process at its early as well as later stages. - Narrow imaginations: How imagining ideal employees can increase racial bias.
Brown-Iannuzzi JL, Payne BK, Trawler S.
This study finds that imagining an ideal candidate for a job led participants to preferentially imagine a White candidate and to preferentially hire a White candidate over a Black candidate with matched qualifications. These effects were independent of explicit prejudice, suggesting that even low-prejudice individuals may be affected by this bias. However, an alternative imagery strategy-imagining a variety of suitable applicants-was effective at remediating the bias. In some cases discrimination may result not from prejudiced attitudes but from failures of the imagination. - The Effect of an Intervention to Break the Gender Bias Habit for Faculty at One Institution: A Cluster Randomized, Controlled Trial.
Carnes et al.
The authors implemented a pair-matched, single-blind, cluster randomized, controlled study of a gender-bias-habit-changing intervention at a large public university. This intervention facilitated intentional behavioral change that helped faculty break the gender bias habit and change department climate in ways that support the career advancement of women in academic medicine, science, and engineering. - Systematic inequality and hierarchy in faculty hiring networks.
Clauset A, Arbesman S, Larremore DB.
This study finds that faculty hiring follows a common and steeply hierarchical structure that reflects social inequality. Additionally, doctoral prestige alone better predicts career placement than a U.S. News & World Report rank, women generally place worse than men, and increased institutional prestige leads to increased faculty production, better faculty placement, and a more influential position within the discipline. - Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science.
Cheryan S, Plaut VC, Davies PG, Steele CM.
Four studies demonstrate that the gender difference in interest in computer science is influenced by exposure to environments associated with masculine stereotypes of computer science. - Identity, Belonging, and Achievement: A Model, Interventions, and Implications
Cohen GL, Garcia J.
This study addresses how social or group identities affect achievement. A model of identity engagement that describes how a salient social identity can trigger psychological threat and belonging concerns and how these can produce persistent performance decrements is presented. The authors address how this model helped in the development of successful interventions. - ‘Be prepared’: An implemental mindset for alleviating social‐identity threat.
Dennehy TC, Ben‐Zeev A, Tanigawa N.
Stereotype threat occurs when people who belong to socially devalued groups experience a fear of negative evaluation, which interferes with the goal of staying task focused. The current study was designed to examine whether priming socially devalued individuals with an implemental (vs. a deliberative) mindset, characterized by forming a priori goal-directed plans, would help these individuals to overcome threat-induced distracting states. - Women in Academic Medicine: Measuring Stereotype Threat Among Junior Faculty
Fassiotto et al.
This study developed and tested stereotype threat metrics for first time use with junior faculty in academic medicine. - Speaker Introductions at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds: Forms of Address Reveal Gender Bias.
Files JA, Mayer AP, Ko MG, Friedrich P, Jenkins M, Bryan MJ, Vegunta S, Wittich CM, Lyle MA, Melikian R, Duston T, Chang YH, Hayes SN
In this study, women introduced by men at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds were less likely to be addressed by professional title than were men introduced by men. Differential formality in speaker introductions may amplify isolation, marginalization, and professional discomfiture expressed by women faculty in academic medicine - Perspective-taking: decreasing stereotype expression, stereotype accessibility, and in-group favoritism.
Galinsky AD, Moskowitz GB
Using 3 experiments, the authors explored the role of perspective-taking in debiasing social thought. The role of self-other overlap in producing prosocial outcomes and the separation of the conscious, explicit effects from the nonconscious, implicit effects of perspective-taking are discussed. - Evidence that gendered wording in job advertisements exists and sustains gender inequality.
Gaucher D, Friesen J, Kay AC
This research demonstrates that gendered wording commonly employed in job recruitment materials can maintain gender inequality in traditionally male-dominated occupations. - Reducing Implicit Gender Leadership Bias in Academic Medicine with an Educational Intervention.
Girod et al.
This study investigates the explicit and implicit biases favoring men as leaders, among both men and women faculty, and to assess whether these attitudes change following an educational intervention. Results suggest that providing education on bias and strategies for reducing it can serve as an important step toward reducing gender bias in academic medicine and, ultimately, promoting institutional change, specifically the promoting of women to higher ranks. - On counter-stereotypes and creative cognition: When interventions for reducing prejudice can boost divergent thinking.
Gocłowska MA, Crisp RJ.
This study found that being encouraged to think counter-stereotypically not only decreased stereotyping, but also, on a divergent creativity task, lead to the generation of more creative ideas. - Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of ‘Blind’ Auditions on Female Musicians.
Goldin & Rouse
Using data from actual auditions in an individual fixed-effects framework, the authors find that blind auditions (unknowing the gender of the contestant) increases by 50% the probability a woman will be advanced to the next round of the competition. Blind auditions also enhance the likelihood a female contestant will be selected. - Implicit bias among physicians and its prediction of thrombolysis decisions for black and white patients.
Green AR, Carney DR, Pallin DJ, Ngo LH, Raymond KL, Iezzoni LI, Banaji MR.
This study represents the first evidence of unconscious race among physicians, its dissociation from conscious (explicit) bias, and its predictive validity. Results suggest that physicians’ unconscious biases may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in use of medical procedures such as thrombolysis for myocardial infarction. - Justice, Interrupted: The Effect of Gender, Ideology and Seniority at Supreme Court Oral Arguments.
Jacobi & Schweers
This study finds that judicial interactions at oral argument are highly gendered, with women being interrupted at disproportionate rates by their male colleagues, as well as by male advocates. Seniority also has some influence on oral arguments, but primarily through the female justices learning over time how to behave more like male justices, avoiding traditionally female linguistic framing in order to reduce the extent to which they are dominated by the men. - Ethnic Diversity Deflates Price Bubbles.
Levine et al.
This study found that market prices fit true values 58% better in diverse markets, then in homogenous markets. The findings suggest that price bubbles arise not only from individual errors or financial conditions, but also from the social context of decision making. The evidence may inform public discussion on ethnic diversity: it may be beneficial not only for providing variety in perspectives and skills, but also because diversity facilitates enhanced deliberation and upends conformity. - Social Cognition: Categorical Person Perception.
Macrae & Bodenhausen
In attempting to make sense of others, perceivers regularly construct and use stereotypes to streamline the person perception process. A debate that has dominated recent theorizing about the nature and function of these representations concerns the conditions under which they are activated in everyday life. The present article reviews this work and considers the automaticity of category activation in person perception. - Reducing STEM gender bias with VIDS (video interventions for diversity in STEM)
Moss-Racusin et al.
Results of two experiments revealed that videos exposing participants to empirical findings from gender bias research successfully reduced gender bias and increased awareness of gender bias, positive attitudes toward women in STEM, anger, empathy, and intentions to engage in behaviors that promote gender parity in STEM. - Science Faculty’s Subtle Gender Biases Favor Male Students.
Moss-Racusin et al.
In this study, science faculty from research-intensive universities rated the application materials of a student-who was randomly assigned either a male or female name-for a laboratory manager position. Faculty participants rated the male applicant as significantly more competent than the identical female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. Female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. - Reducing Bias in Academic Search Committees
Railey et al.
This article provides suggestions for formulating a new approach to address the concern of bias among academic search committees. - Do large employers treat racial minorities more fairly? a new analysis of Canadian field experiment data.
Rupa, B., Reitz, J.G., Oreopoulos, P.
This study shows that large employers with over 500 employees discriminate against applicants with Asian (Chinese, Indian or Pakistani) names in the decision to call for an interview, about half as often as smaller employers. - Different groups, different threats: 306 A multi-threat approach to the experience of stereotype threats.
Shapiro JR.
Two studies demonstrated that different negatively stereotyped groups are at risk for distinct forms of stereotype threats. This research suggests that traditional models may overlook the experiences of stereotype threats within some groups and that interventions tailored to address differences between stereotype threats will be most effective. - Demystifying values affirmation interventions writing about social belonging is a key to buffering against identity threat.
Shnabel N, Purdie-Vaughns V, Cook JE, Garcia J, Cohen GL
Two experiments examined whether the specific content of participant-generated affirmation essays-in particular, writing about social belonging-facilitated an affirmation intervention’s ability to reduce identity threat among negatively stereotyped students. Writing about belonging, in turn, improved the GPA of Black students and female students. - Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans.
Steele & Aronson
The role of stereotype vulnerability in the standardized test performance of ability-stigmatized groups is analyzed and discussed. - A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance.
Steele
The threat that others’ judgments or their own actions will negatively stereotype them in the domain dramatically depresses the standardized test performance of women and African Americans who are in the academic vanguard of their groups. It causes disidentification with school, and practices that reduce this threat can reduce these negative effects. - Bringing automatic stereotyping under control: implementation intentions as efficient means of thought control.
Stewart BD, Payne BK.
In three experiments, automatic stereotyping was reduced when participants made an intention to think specific counter-stereotypical thoughts whenever they encountered a Black individual. - Exploring the Color of Glass: Letters of Recommendation for Female and Male Medical Faculty.
Trix & Psenka
This study examines over 500 letters of recommendation for medical faculty at a large American medical school. Letters written for female applicants were found to differ systematically from those written for male applicants in the extremes of length, in the percentages lacking in basic features, in the percentages with doubt raisers (an extended category of negative language, often associated with apparent commendation), and in frequency of mention of status terms. The letters tended to portray women as teachers and students, and men as researchers and professionals. - Engaging Gatekeepers, Optimizing Decision Making, and Mitigating Bias: Design Specifications for Systemic Diversity Interventions
Vinkenburg
This author develops and describes design specifications for systemic diversity interventions in upward mobility career systems, aimed at optimizing decision making through mitigating bias by engaging gatekeepers. These interventions address the paradox of meritocracy that underlies the surprising lack of diversity at the top of the career pyramid in these systems. - A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students
Walton & Cohen
A brief intervention aimed at buttressing college freshmen’s sense of social belonging in school was tested in a randomized controlled trial. The intervention aimed to lessen psychological perceptions of threat on campus by framing social adversity as common and transient. The intervention raised African Americans’ GPA, halved the minority achievement gap., improved African Americans’ self-reported health and well-being and reduced their reported number of doctor visits 3 years postintervention. The results suggest that social belonging is a psychological lever where targeted intervention can have broad consequences that lessen inequalities in achievement and health. - Self-Awareness and Cultural Identity as an Effort to Reduce Bias in Medicine
White et al.
The authors describe the formation and implementation of a novel medical school course on self-awareness and cultural identity designed to reduce unconscious bias in medicine. - The What, the Why, and the How: A Review of Racial Microaggressions Research in Psychology.
Wong et al.
In this paper, the authors provide a review of racial microaggressions research literature in psychology since 2007.