Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People

An event for UCLA faculty and students:

BLINDSPOT: HIDDEN BIASES OF GOOD PEOPLE

A presentation by Mahzarin R. Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Harvard University

Friday, January 18
2:00 p.m.
California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) Auditorium
UCLA Campus

Mahzarin Banaji, a professor in Harvard University’s Department of Psychology, is known for her work on the concept of implicit bias in regards to race, gender, sexual orientation, and other factors.

Banaji studies human thinking and feeling as it unfolds in social contexts. Her focus is primarily on mental systems that operate in implicit or unconscious mode.

Banaji is co-founder of Project Implicit, a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition – thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a “virtual laboratory” for collecting data on the Internet. As part of Project Implicit, Banaji co-developed a method called the Implicit Association Test, which measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., black people, gay people) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad) or stereotypes (e.g., athletic, clumsy). (Tests are available for anyone to try online by clicking here).

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