4 ms·

Are there other studies that deal with this specifically? I don't doubt you're right - it seems reproducibility is tough these days - but a link would be nice.

danharaj 11y ago
Here's one off the top of my head: http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474.abstract#aff-1 http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474.abstract#aff-1 Abstract: Despite efforts to recruit and retain more women, a stark gender disparity persists within academic science. Abundant research has demonstrated gender bias in many demographic groups, but has yet to experimentally investigate whether science faculty exhibit a bias against female students that could contribute to the gender disparity in academic science. In a randomized double-blind study (n = 127), 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 and hireable than the (identical) female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. The gender of the faculty participants did not affect responses, such that female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. Mediation analyses indicated that the female student was less likely to be hired because she was viewed as less competent. We also assessed faculty participants’ preexisting subtle bias against women using a standard instrument and found that preexisting subtle bias against women played a moderating role, such that subtle bias against women was associated with less support for the female student, but was unrelated to reactions to the male student. These results suggest that interventions addressing faculty gender bias might advance the goal of increasing the participation of women in science.
- throwaway13337 11y ago
  I concede - that /is/ a similar study. It'd be nice if science reporting included a history of similar studies in their articles - especially for topics that seem to come up again and again like this. Better, an examine.com-style list of studies on over-argued topics that list relevant studies organized succinctly.
- zo1 11y ago
  Two things of question/curiosity regarding this that immediately spring to mind. It wasn't immediately obvious from the abstract, and I don't have journal access. Did the faculty subjects know that they were being tested? Sure the testers + subjects didn't know whether they had female/male students, but they might still know they are part of an experiment. Secondly. Could we not perhaps attribute the rating of male candidates higher (or females lower) due to perceived "corrective" bias in a field? One common theme among individuals that are against affirmative-action-type processes, is that the candidates are picked not on merit but rather by quota. With that in mind, could the bias shown in the study not be personal-bias being externalized to fix the unfair/unjust bias within the great affirmative-action/quota environment?
  - danharaj 11y ago
    I don't think intention matters. For two reasons: The material effect of the bias is what is being evaluated and is more important than the intentions of the person acting on the bias, and assigning intention is always fraught with post-hoc rationalizations because human beings have limited access to their own internal behavior, let alone the behavior of an ensemble of humans. There have been numerous stories used to justify the systematic and institutional biases and injustices against women throughout history: whether it is appeals to the divine order set forth by God, or appeals to the biological inferiority of women or the insistence that there is actually a structural bias against men and for women throughout society because, nominally, our institutions discarded explicit affirmations of male superiority and took up explicit goals for gender equality. Bias is bias and it is out of fashion to insist that women are inferior to men. So I would not be surprised that the personal stories we tell ourselves to justify our biased actions avoid that rhetoric and take a different tack. Racists insist they are color blind and people who talk about structural racism are the real racists. A similar logic holds in gender politics.

danharaj 11y ago

Here's one off the top of my head: http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474.abstract#aff-1 http://www.pnas.org/content/109/41/16474.abstract#aff-1 Abstract: Despite efforts to recruit and retain more women, a stark gender disparity persists within academic science. Abundant research has demonstrated gender bias in many demographic groups, but has yet to experimentally investigate whether science faculty exhibit a bias against female students that could contribute to the gender disparity in academic science. In a randomized double-blind study (n = 127), 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 and hireable than the (identical) female applicant. These participants also selected a higher starting salary and offered more career mentoring to the male applicant. The gender of the faculty participants did not affect responses, such that female and male faculty were equally likely to exhibit bias against the female student. Mediation analyses indicated that the female student was less likely to be hired because she was viewed as less competent. We also assessed faculty participants’ preexisting subtle bias against women using a standard instrument and found that preexisting subtle bias against women played a moderating role, such that subtle bias against women was associated with less support for the female student, but was unrelated to reactions to the male student. These results suggest that interventions addressing faculty gender bias might advance the goal of increasing the participation of women in science.

throwaway13337 11y ago
I concede - that /is/ a similar study. It'd be nice if science reporting included a history of similar studies in their articles - especially for topics that seem to come up again and again like this. Better, an examine.com-style list of studies on over-argued topics that list relevant studies organized succinctly.
zo1 11y ago
Two things of question/curiosity regarding this that immediately spring to mind. It wasn't immediately obvious from the abstract, and I don't have journal access. Did the faculty subjects know that they were being tested? Sure the testers + subjects didn't know whether they had female/male students, but they might still know they are part of an experiment. Secondly. Could we not perhaps attribute the rating of male candidates higher (or females lower) due to perceived "corrective" bias in a field? One common theme among individuals that are against affirmative-action-type processes, is that the candidates are picked not on merit but rather by quota. With that in mind, could the bias shown in the study not be personal-bias being externalized to fix the unfair/unjust bias within the great affirmative-action/quota environment?
- danharaj 11y ago
  I don't think intention matters. For two reasons: The material effect of the bias is what is being evaluated and is more important than the intentions of the person acting on the bias, and assigning intention is always fraught with post-hoc rationalizations because human beings have limited access to their own internal behavior, let alone the behavior of an ensemble of humans. There have been numerous stories used to justify the systematic and institutional biases and injustices against women throughout history: whether it is appeals to the divine order set forth by God, or appeals to the biological inferiority of women or the insistence that there is actually a structural bias against men and for women throughout society because, nominally, our institutions discarded explicit affirmations of male superiority and took up explicit goals for gender equality. Bias is bias and it is out of fashion to insist that women are inferior to men. So I would not be surprised that the personal stories we tell ourselves to justify our biased actions avoid that rhetoric and take a different tack. Racists insist they are color blind and people who talk about structural racism are the real racists. A similar logic holds in gender politics.