CSU COAST hosted a workshop on implicit bias on January 13, 2021, as part of our larger efforts to fight systemic racism and cultivate inclusive diversity in marine science across the CSU.

This all-day virtual workshop was facilitated by Dr. Carmel Saad and Jarrod Schwartz, the team behind the UC and C​SU's Moving Beyond Bias program. The workshop explored how bias works and how we can reduce its harmful effects.

What is implicit bias? It's hidden prejudice, and it's a natural habit of t​he mind. We often internalize our society’s stereotypes unknowingly from messages embedded in our culture throughout our lives, beginning in childhood. These messages come from media and the people around us and we carry them with us throughout our lives. Our brains gravitate toward these biases because they provide an efficient (though inaccurate) way to make sense of the world around us.

The​ workshop explained implicit bias in detail, provided examples, illustrated how it affects behavior in various sectors and showed how you can attenuate the effect of implicit biases on your own behavior by becoming aware of them. Once we realize what our biases are and how they affect behavior specifically, we can disrupt them and align our behavior with our more conscious intentions of how to treat others.

During the workshop we explored the impact of bias at multiple levels and interactions among them: 

• The intrapersonal level: How bias lives inside each of us
• The interpersonal or group level: How bias impacts interactions between people or groups of people
• The organizational level: How bias plays out within organizations and effects organizational processes, structure, demographics, culture, and outcomes
  
• The institutional/societal level: How bias plays out within our society’s institutions, such as our educational, healthcare, criminal justice systems, media, etc.
  

​We discussed how bias impacts relationships among students, faculty and administrators, and how it can contribute to systemic disparities in academic engagement and career opportunities. The workshop included a mix of presentations, large group discussions, small group discussions, interactive activities, and evidence-based strategies for addressing implicit bias. 

This workshop was specifically for CSU faculty members (including adjuncts, lecturers, part-time, etc.), administrators and staff who are involved in COAST.

Workshop resources: ​

Workshop Handouts

Workshop Vignettes​

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Suggested workshop reading list:

No progress on diversity in 40 years  Rachel E. Bernard and Emily H. G. Cooperdock. Nature Geoscience, 2018.

Race and racism in the geosciences​  Kuheli Dutt. Nature Geoscience, 2019.

Strategies for Increasing Diversity in the Ocean Science Workforce Through Mentoring​​ ​ ​​Johnson, A., M.J. Huggans, D. Siegfried, and L. Braxton. Oceanography, 2016.

Why are there so few ethnic minorities in ecology and evolutionary biology? Challenges to inclusion and the role of sense of belonging​ ​ 

Laurie T. O’Brien, Henry L. Bart and Donna M. Garcia. Social Psychology of Education, 2020.​

Race Matters​ David J. Asai. Cell, 2020. | See Race REALLY matters webinar (8/27/20)

The Diversity–Innovation Paradox in Science Bas Hofstra, Vivek V. Kulkarni, Sebastian Munoz-Najar Galvez, Bryan He, Dan Jurafsky, and Daniel A. McFarland. PNAS, 2020. 

Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention Patricia G. Devine, Patrick S. Forscher, Anthony J. Austin and William T. L. Cox. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2012.

Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life Derald Wing Sue, Christina M. Capodilupo, Gina C. Torino, Jennifer M. Bucceri, Aisha M. B. Holder, Kevin L. Nadal, and Marta Esquilin. American Psychologist, 2007.