Egalitarian intentions do not prevent biased behavior without interventions

Evidence

Across the country, police departments, prosecutors’ offices, the criminal defense bar, and judges are engaging in “implicit bias trainings” and other professional development devoted to increasing fairness (Maryfield, 2018). Some of these programs are clearly a response to public pressure or legal mandates (Edwards, 2016). As a result, there may be skepticism that any of these efforts are genuinely inspired by a call from within to ensure equal treatment across racial and ethnic lines. It may seem as though the actual desire to treat people equally should be enough for fairness in decision-making and behavior. Robust social science research supports the argument that even those who hold consciously egalitarian values are at risk of engaging in behavior that exacerbates rather than lessens racially disparate outcomes (Kang et al., 2011). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1350

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Connects to dual-process and implicit bias literature from earlier chapters in this book on unconscious stereotyping
• QUESTION: Which specific interventions have been shown to actually reduce disparity, and under what conditions?

Related

• Even people with consciously egalitarian values act in ways that worsen racial disparities. (similarity 0.91)
• Implicit bias operates without intention and can contradict conscious egalitarian values (similarity 0.84)
• Mind science bias interventions only work where actors already share egalitarian values (similarity 0.82)
• Racial inequality persists chiefly through unconscious bias in people who believe themselves fair (similarity 0.81)
• Implicit bias trainings rarely produce meaningful behavioral change (similarity 0.81)
• Individual willpower cannot override implicit bias; institutional design must (similarity 0.80)
• Implicit bias alone insufficiently explains racial inequity in criminal justice outcomes (similarity 0.80)
• Most racial disparity stems from well-meaning people’s unconscious bias, not explicit hatred (similarity 0.80)
• Individuals cannot override unconscious bias by willpower; institutions must intervene (similarity 0.80)
• Bias-reduction training shifts awareness and action more than measured implicit bias itself (similarity 0.80)
• Egalitarian self-presentation conceals the true relationship between prejudice and bias (similarity 0.80)
• Sincere fairness goals do not prevent race-based misjudgment in prosecutors (similarity 0.79)
• Implicit bias training in criminal justice still lacks rigorous outcome evaluation (similarity 0.79)