The generalizability of gender bias: Testing the effects of contextual, explicit, and implicit sexism on labor arbitration decisions.

Abstract

Decades of social-psychological research show that gender bias can result from features of the social context and from individual-level psychological predispositions. Do these sources of bias impact legal decisions, which are frequently made by people subject to factors that have been proposed to reduce bias (training and accountability)? To answer the question, we examined the potential for 3 major social-psychological theories of gender bias (role-congruity theory, ambivalent sexism, and implicit bias) to predict outcomes of labor arbitration decisions. In the first study, undergraduate students and professional arbitrators made decisions about 2 mock arbitration cases in which the gender of the employee-grievants was experimentally manipulated. Student participants' decisions showed the predicted gender bias, whereas the decisions of experienced professionals did not. Individual-level attitudes did not predict the extent of the observed bias and accountability did not attenuate it. In the second study, arbitrators' explicit and implicit gender attitudes were significant predictors of their decisions in published cases. The laboratory and field results suggest that context, expertise, and implicit and explicit attitudes are relevant to legal decision-making, but that laboratory experiments alone may not fully capture the nature of their effect on legal professionals' decisions in real cases.

Stereotype‐based judgments of child welfare issues in cases of parent criminality

“…Building on the present findings, and in light of the results of Girvan et al's () research, we believe one particularly relevant direction for future research revolves around the identification of possible moderators of gender bias in decisions concerning contact between incarcerated parent and their children. Specifically, future studies might want to examine whether and to what extent accountability of the decision‐maker (i. e., the subjective expectation that one has to justify one's decision to others) and the decision‐maker's training or professional experience do eliminate bias in judgments about child welfare issues in cases of parent criminality.…”

“…Finally, it is important to note that though we were able to replicate our findings in a subsample of professionals in law, social services, and related fields, our research participants were not professionals who were—at the time of our studies—actually involved in decisions concerning parent–child contact during the incarceration period. Interestingly, recent research on the generalizability of gender bias in labor arbitration decisions which compared gender biases among (untrained) undergraduates and professional arbitrators suggests that trained professional are not immune against gender biases, even though such biases may affect their decisions in a more subtle way (Girvan, Deason, & Borgida, ). We are aware that this research was conducted in a different legal context (labor arbitration).…”

Health care professionals' perspective on return to work in cancer survivors

“…Based on previous research regarding professionals' perceptions relating to cancer survivors' characteristics, it is likely that after receiving even a small amount of information from the cancer survivors, professionals tend to categorize them into one of these groups . This is important because such perceptions often unintentionally affect subsequent behavior, which is to a certain extent based on the professional's view of his or her role …”

“…Such research is important because health professionals' views regarding RTW, as well as the guidance and support they provide, significantly affect both cancer survivors' decisions about RTW and the success of the process . Physicians seem to be influenced, regarding their decision to discuss various health issues with their patients or even regarding their professional behavior, by their own beliefs and attitudes about patients' characteristics . In addition, health care professionals' views regarding RTW may be affected by their personal beliefs about the merit of working for cancer survivors and their perceptions about their own role in the process …”

Are Women Perceived as Worse Magicians Than Men? Gender Bias When Evaluating Magic Tricks

“…As such, when participants give any score, they become accountable for giving it, and only by giving a correct solution can they warrant a negative evaluation. Based on the seminal work by Tetlock and colleagues on accountability (e.g., Tetlock, Skitka, & Boettger, 1989), some studies have actually shown that gender biases disappear when participants are made accountable for their decisions in professional settings (e.g., Girvan, Deason, & Borgida, 2015).…”