ODEI Spotlight: Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People
April 16, 2021 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Details
The purpose of the seminar, Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, is to reveal the surprising and even perplexing ways in which we make errors in assessing and evaluating others when we recruit and hire, onboard and promote, lead teams, undertake succession planning, and work on behalf of our clients or the public we serve. It is Professor Banaji’s belief that people intend well and that the inconsistency we see, between values and behavior, comes from a lack of awareness. But because implicit bias is pervasive, we must rely on scientific evidence to “outsmart” our minds. If we do so, we will be more likely to reach the life goals we have chosen for ourselves and to serve better the organizations for which we work.
The Benjamin and Anne A. Pinkel Endowed Lecture Fund was established though a generous gift from Sheila Pinkel on behalf of the estate of her parents, Benjamin and Anne A. Pinkel, and serves as a memorial tribute to the lives of her parents. Benjamin Pinkel, who received a BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1930, was actively interested in the philosophy of the mind and published a monograph on the subject, Consciousness, Matter, and Energy: The Emergence of Mind in Nature, in 1992, the objective of which is a “re-examination of the mind-body problem in the light of…new scientific information.” The lecture series is intended to advance the discussion and rigorous study of the deep questions which engaged Dr. Pinkel’s investigations.