Join us Wednesday, January 26 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CST for a virtual session on implicit bias. The session will be presented by Sylvia Perry, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Northwestern University from Project Implicit.
What is implicit bias?
Implicit bias is an automatic reaction we have towards other people. These attitudes and stereotypes can negatively impact our understanding, actions, and decision-making. The idea that we can hold prejudices we don’t want or consciously believe was quite radical when it was first introduced, and the fact that people may discriminate unintentionally continues to have implications for understanding disparities in so many aspects of society, including but not limited to health care, policing, and education, as well as organizational practices like hiring and promotion.
Objectives of the session
The objectives of the Education Session are to raise awareness of our biases; to explore how researchers measure and understand identity-based biases; and to provide actionable steps that we can take to prevent and mitigate the impact of biases. We invite you to join us for this important discussion about how hidden biases we carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes and stereotypes may be influencing our decisions and leading to unintended consequences.
Dr. Sylvia Perry
Sylvia Perry, Ph.D., investigates how bias awareness develops, and the implications of bias awareness for prejudice reduction, intergroup contact, and health disparities. She has over 30 publications on these topics and has received numerous awards for her teaching and research, including an award for the best paper by the Association for Medical Education in Europe. Dr. Perry’s work has been featured by several national and international media outlets, including The Washington Post and National Public Radio. She currently serves on the editorial board for Social Psychological and Personality Science and serves as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation. Dr. Perry is an investigator on the Medical Student CHANGE Study, a team of medical practitioners and researchers conducting a large scale, longitudinal project on medical student trainees’ judgement and decision-making. She has provided educational consulting services for organizations such as Paradigm, the Einstein Montefiore Center for Continuing Medical Education, and the Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Perry earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Texas and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral associate at Yale University and served on the faculty of the University of Vermont.