{"id":332849,"date":"2022-01-10T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T16:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=332849"},"modified":"2022-01-21T18:10:14","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T23:10:14","slug":"why-disability-bias-is-a-particularly-stubborn-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2022\/01\/why-disability-bias-is-a-particularly-stubborn-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Why disability bias is a particularly stubborn problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
\"Tessa

As part of her research, Tessa Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed.<\/p>

Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tWhy disability bias is a particularly stubborn problem\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tNikki Rojas\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tResearcher says addressing it likely will take some kind of social reckoning\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

Our most negative societal prejudices can fade, but what sparks that change, and what does it mean when those views haven\u2019t budged in years? Tessa Charlesworth, a postdoc in the Department of Psychology, has dedicated her research in recent years<\/a> to these questions, and some of her newest analysis has turned up a troubling trend involving implicit biases toward disabilities.<\/p>\n

Charlesworth, <\/a>Ph.D. \u201921, who works in the lab of\u00a0 Mahzarin Banaji,<\/a> has found that those hidden prejudices have hardly changed over a 14-year period and could take more than 200 years to reach neutrality, or zero bias.<\/p>\n

\u201cImplicit bias can<\/em> change. But so far, it\u2019s only changed for some groups,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cIt changed for sexuality and race bias pretty dramatically. Sexuality biases dropped 64 percent over 14 years, but it hasn\u2019t changed at all for disability, age, or body weight bias. Disability bias over 14 years has only shifted by 3 percent. The disparity between the change in sexuality bias and the stability in disability bias is massive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlesworth noted that greater shifts are being seen in explicit biases, particularly those about disabilities, which have dropped 37 percent. She said that it is possible, given the long stability in implicit disability bias, that explicit biases could largely disappear before the implicit ones substantially budge.<\/p>\n

New data shows that, based on the rate of past movement, it will likely take more than 200 years for implicit disability biases to reach neutrality. Researchers make projections using forecasting techniques similar to those used in predicting stock markets or the weather. By contrast Charlesworth noted that changed attitudes on sexual orientation are already very close to reaching a point where survey respondents do not associate being gay with bad and straight with good.<\/p>\n

To track implicit biases, researchers tested how quickly subjects associated different concepts with being good or bad, using a test co-developed by Banaji, Charlesworth\u2019s adviser, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, and a regular co-author. They then relied on data archives from the last 14 years to detect changes. They looked at six different social biases: race, sexuality, skin tone, body weight, age, and disability.<\/p>\n\r\n

\u201cIn and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\nTessa Charlesworth<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n

Implicit biases, which Charlesworth described as \u201cmore automatic and less controlled\u201d than more conscious explicit beliefs, are usually widespread in society and tend to come from personal experiences, upbringing, and the media, she said. Typically the majority of people have positive associations with groups who are dominant or hold power in society, such as those without disabilities or white men. On the other hand, individuals tend to have more negative associations with marginalized groups, including people of color, those with disabilities, or members of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

As part of her research, Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed. She found that was not the case and that implicit bias shifts along with the views of the wider society.<\/p>\n

In a Harvard Horizons<\/a> talk last year, Charlesworth attributed big changes in other implicit attitudes to major social, political, or cultural events, including federal legislation on same-sex marriage, the #MeToo movement, and Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy new research tells us that these are the kinds of social events that are prompting transformation not only in our explicit conscious values, but also in that cognitive monster of implicit bias,\u201d she said. Charlesworth believes it will take a similar movement of national reckoning to spark change in people\u2019s implicit biases about disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amazing thing about Black Lives Matter and previous social movements [is that they] created national conversations that brought that bias to the front of everyone\u2019s mind,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you were sitting around at the dinner table, it was hard not to have a conversation about racism in the summer of 2020. I think that changing the conversation and bringing disability bias to the front of the mind for the everyday person will be necessary to change that bias as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banaji agreed that society needs to change the narrative when it comes to disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecognizing the truth \u2014 that every disability may come with a unique way to know the world that could create innovation, a different way to solve problems,\u201d Banaji said. \u201cWhen we see somebody in a wheelchair, [let] the first association that pops into our heads be, \u2018Wow, I wonder what they know that I don\u2019t know. I wonder what they can teach me that I could never know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlesworth says her next move will be to look around the nation to see whether there are localities or regions that are leading change on disability bias. Banaji noted that it could be useful to compare the different investments that city, state, or federal governments make to support the disabled and see whether they correlate with residents\u2019 attitudes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are practices that you can do to start to become even just a little more aware of how implicit bias shows up,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cWhen I first started this research six years ago, I started noticing the number of places that don\u2019t have ramps or the number of places that have really narrow sidewalks. In and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem. That\u2019s how implicit bias becomes baked into our environments and can create these associations of who seems to be welcomed or valued.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tessa Charlesworth, a Department of Psychology postdoc, says social reckoning is needed to deal with implicit disability bias.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131912115,"featured_media":336625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":172,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2023-09-07 13:21","document_color_palette":"crimson","author":"Nikki Rojas","affiliation":"Harvard Staff 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class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Tessa Charlesworth,\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/101821_Tessa_006.jpeg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">As part of her research, Tessa Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Tessa Charlesworth,\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/101821_Tessa_006.jpeg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">As part of her research, Tessa Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tWhy disability bias is a particularly stubborn problem\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tNikki Rojas\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2022-01-10\">\n\t\t\tJanuary 10, 2022\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t5 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tResearcher says addressing it likely will take some kind of social reckoning\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>Our most negative societal prejudices can fade, but what sparks that change, and what does it mean when those views haven\u2019t budged in years? Tessa Charlesworth, a postdoc in the Department of Psychology, has dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/tessaescharlesworth.wordpress.com\/publications\/\">her research in recent years<\/a> to these questions, and some of her newest analysis has turned up a troubling trend involving implicit biases toward disabilities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/psychology.fas.harvard.edu\/people\/tessa-charlesworth\">Charlesworth, <\/a>Ph.D. \u201921, who works in the lab of\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.people.fas.harvard.edu\/~banaji\/\">Mahzarin Banaji,<\/a> has found that those hidden prejudices have hardly changed over a 14-year period and could take more than 200 years to reach neutrality, or zero bias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplicit bias <em>can<\/em> change. But so far, it\u2019s only changed for some groups,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cIt changed for sexuality and race bias pretty dramatically. Sexuality biases dropped 64 percent over 14 years, but it hasn\u2019t changed at all for disability, age, or body weight bias. Disability bias over 14 years has only shifted by 3 percent. The disparity between the change in sexuality bias and the stability in disability bias is massive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth noted that greater shifts are being seen in explicit biases, particularly those about disabilities, which have dropped 37 percent. She said that it is possible, given the long stability in implicit disability bias, that explicit biases could largely disappear before the implicit ones substantially budge.<\/p>\n<p>New data shows that, based on the rate of past movement, it will likely take more than 200 years for implicit disability biases to reach neutrality. Researchers make projections using forecasting techniques similar to those used in predicting stock markets or the weather. By contrast Charlesworth noted that changed attitudes on sexual orientation are already very close to reaching a point where survey respondents do not associate being gay with bad and straight with good.<\/p>\n<p>To track implicit biases, researchers tested how quickly subjects associated different concepts with being good or bad, using a test co-developed by Banaji, Charlesworth\u2019s adviser, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, and a regular co-author. They then relied on data archives from the last 14 years to detect changes. They looked at six different social biases: race, sexuality, skin tone, body weight, age, and disability.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>Our most negative societal prejudices can fade, but what sparks that change, and what does it mean when those views haven\u2019t budged in years? Tessa Charlesworth, a postdoc in the Department of Psychology, has dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/tessaescharlesworth.wordpress.com\/publications\/\">her research in recent years<\/a> to these questions, and some of her newest analysis has turned up a troubling trend involving implicit biases toward disabilities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/psychology.fas.harvard.edu\/people\/tessa-charlesworth\">Charlesworth, <\/a>Ph.D. \u201921, who works in the lab of\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.people.fas.harvard.edu\/~banaji\/\">Mahzarin Banaji,<\/a> has found that those hidden prejudices have hardly changed over a 14-year period and could take more than 200 years to reach neutrality, or zero bias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplicit bias <em>can<\/em> change. But so far, it\u2019s only changed for some groups,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cIt changed for sexuality and race bias pretty dramatically. Sexuality biases dropped 64 percent over 14 years, but it hasn\u2019t changed at all for disability, age, or body weight bias. Disability bias over 14 years has only shifted by 3 percent. The disparity between the change in sexuality bias and the stability in disability bias is massive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth noted that greater shifts are being seen in explicit biases, particularly those about disabilities, which have dropped 37 percent. She said that it is possible, given the long stability in implicit disability bias, that explicit biases could largely disappear before the implicit ones substantially budge.<\/p>\n<p>New data shows that, based on the rate of past movement, it will likely take more than 200 years for implicit disability biases to reach neutrality. Researchers make projections using forecasting techniques similar to those used in predicting stock markets or the weather. By contrast Charlesworth noted that changed attitudes on sexual orientation are already very close to reaching a point where survey respondents do not associate being gay with bad and straight with good.<\/p>\n<p>To track implicit biases, researchers tested how quickly subjects associated different concepts with being good or bad, using a test co-developed by Banaji, Charlesworth\u2019s adviser, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, and a regular co-author. They then relied on data archives from the last 14 years to detect changes. They looked at six different social biases: race, sexuality, skin tone, body weight, age, and disability.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>Our most negative societal prejudices can fade, but what sparks that change, and what does it mean when those views haven\u2019t budged in years? Tessa Charlesworth, a postdoc in the Department of Psychology, has dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/tessaescharlesworth.wordpress.com\/publications\/\">her research in recent years<\/a> to these questions, and some of her newest analysis has turned up a troubling trend involving implicit biases toward disabilities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/psychology.fas.harvard.edu\/people\/tessa-charlesworth\">Charlesworth, <\/a>Ph.D. \u201921, who works in the lab of\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.people.fas.harvard.edu\/~banaji\/\">Mahzarin Banaji,<\/a> has found that those hidden prejudices have hardly changed over a 14-year period and could take more than 200 years to reach neutrality, or zero bias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplicit bias <em>can<\/em> change. But so far, it\u2019s only changed for some groups,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cIt changed for sexuality and race bias pretty dramatically. Sexuality biases dropped 64 percent over 14 years, but it hasn\u2019t changed at all for disability, age, or body weight bias. Disability bias over 14 years has only shifted by 3 percent. The disparity between the change in sexuality bias and the stability in disability bias is massive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth noted that greater shifts are being seen in explicit biases, particularly those about disabilities, which have dropped 37 percent. She said that it is possible, given the long stability in implicit disability bias, that explicit biases could largely disappear before the implicit ones substantially budge.<\/p>\n<p>New data shows that, based on the rate of past movement, it will likely take more than 200 years for implicit disability biases to reach neutrality. Researchers make projections using forecasting techniques similar to those used in predicting stock markets or the weather. By contrast Charlesworth noted that changed attitudes on sexual orientation are already very close to reaching a point where survey respondents do not associate being gay with bad and straight with good.<\/p>\n<p>To track implicit biases, researchers tested how quickly subjects associated different concepts with being good or bad, using a test co-developed by Banaji, Charlesworth\u2019s adviser, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, and a regular co-author. They then relied on data archives from the last 14 years to detect changes. They looked at six different social biases: race, sexuality, skin tone, body weight, age, and disability.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/quote","attrs":{"value":"<cite>Tessa Charlesworth<\/cite>","citation":"Tessa Charlesworth","textAlign":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<p>\u201cIn and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["<p>\u201cIn and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"<p>\u201cIn and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><cite>Tessa Charlesworth<\/cite><\/blockquote>","innerContent":["<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">","<cite>Tessa Charlesworth<\/cite><\/blockquote>"],"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIn and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Tessa Charlesworth<\/cite><\/blockquote>"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Implicit biases, which Charlesworth described as \u201cmore automatic and less controlled\u201d than more conscious explicit beliefs, are usually widespread in society and tend to come from personal experiences, upbringing, and the media, she said. Typically the majority of people have positive associations with groups who are dominant or hold power in society, such as those without disabilities or white men. On the other hand, individuals tend to have more negative associations with marginalized groups, including people of color, those with disabilities, or members of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n<p>As part of her research, Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed. She found that was not the case and that implicit bias shifts along with the views of the wider society.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HVnHQ4mhxnU&ab_channel=HarvardGraduateSchoolofArtsandSciences\">Harvard Horizons<\/a> talk last year, Charlesworth attributed big changes in other implicit attitudes to major social, political, or cultural events, including federal legislation on same-sex marriage, the #MeToo movement, and Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy new research tells us that these are the kinds of social events that are prompting transformation not only in our explicit conscious values, but also in that cognitive monster of implicit bias,\u201d she said. Charlesworth believes it will take a similar movement of national reckoning to spark change in people\u2019s implicit biases about disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe amazing thing about Black Lives Matter and previous social movements [is that they] created national conversations that brought that bias to the front of everyone\u2019s mind,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you were sitting around at the dinner table, it was hard not to have a conversation about racism in the summer of 2020. I think that changing the conversation and bringing disability bias to the front of the mind for the everyday person will be necessary to change that bias as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banaji agreed that society needs to change the narrative when it comes to disability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecognizing the truth \u2014 that every disability may come with a unique way to know the world that could create innovation, a different way to solve problems,\u201d Banaji said. \u201cWhen we see somebody in a wheelchair, [let] the first association that pops into our heads be, \u2018Wow, I wonder what they know that I don\u2019t know. I wonder what they can teach me that I could never know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth says her next move will be to look around the nation to see whether there are localities or regions that are leading change on disability bias. Banaji noted that it could be useful to compare the different investments that city, state, or federal governments make to support the disabled and see whether they correlate with residents\u2019 attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are practices that you can do to start to become even just a little more aware of how implicit bias shows up,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cWhen I first started this research six years ago, I started noticing the number of places that don\u2019t have ramps or the number of places that have really narrow sidewalks. In and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem. That\u2019s how implicit bias becomes baked into our environments and can create these associations of who seems to be welcomed or valued.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Implicit biases, which Charlesworth described as \u201cmore automatic and less controlled\u201d than more conscious explicit beliefs, are usually widespread in society and tend to come from personal experiences, upbringing, and the media, she said. Typically the majority of people have positive associations with groups who are dominant or hold power in society, such as those without disabilities or white men. On the other hand, individuals tend to have more negative associations with marginalized groups, including people of color, those with disabilities, or members of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n<p>As part of her research, Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed. She found that was not the case and that implicit bias shifts along with the views of the wider society.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HVnHQ4mhxnU&ab_channel=HarvardGraduateSchoolofArtsandSciences\">Harvard Horizons<\/a> talk last year, Charlesworth attributed big changes in other implicit attitudes to major social, political, or cultural events, including federal legislation on same-sex marriage, the #MeToo movement, and Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy new research tells us that these are the kinds of social events that are prompting transformation not only in our explicit conscious values, but also in that cognitive monster of implicit bias,\u201d she said. Charlesworth believes it will take a similar movement of national reckoning to spark change in people\u2019s implicit biases about disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe amazing thing about Black Lives Matter and previous social movements [is that they] created national conversations that brought that bias to the front of everyone\u2019s mind,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you were sitting around at the dinner table, it was hard not to have a conversation about racism in the summer of 2020. I think that changing the conversation and bringing disability bias to the front of the mind for the everyday person will be necessary to change that bias as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banaji agreed that society needs to change the narrative when it comes to disability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecognizing the truth \u2014 that every disability may come with a unique way to know the world that could create innovation, a different way to solve problems,\u201d Banaji said. \u201cWhen we see somebody in a wheelchair, [let] the first association that pops into our heads be, \u2018Wow, I wonder what they know that I don\u2019t know. I wonder what they can teach me that I could never know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth says her next move will be to look around the nation to see whether there are localities or regions that are leading change on disability bias. Banaji noted that it could be useful to compare the different investments that city, state, or federal governments make to support the disabled and see whether they correlate with residents\u2019 attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are practices that you can do to start to become even just a little more aware of how implicit bias shows up,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cWhen I first started this research six years ago, I started noticing the number of places that don\u2019t have ramps or the number of places that have really narrow sidewalks. In and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem. That\u2019s how implicit bias becomes baked into our environments and can create these associations of who seems to be welcomed or valued.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Implicit biases, which Charlesworth described as \u201cmore automatic and less controlled\u201d than more conscious explicit beliefs, are usually widespread in society and tend to come from personal experiences, upbringing, and the media, she said. Typically the majority of people have positive associations with groups who are dominant or hold power in society, such as those without disabilities or white men. On the other hand, individuals tend to have more negative associations with marginalized groups, including people of color, those with disabilities, or members of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n<p>As part of her research, Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed. She found that was not the case and that implicit bias shifts along with the views of the wider society.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HVnHQ4mhxnU&ab_channel=HarvardGraduateSchoolofArtsandSciences\">Harvard Horizons<\/a> talk last year, Charlesworth attributed big changes in other implicit attitudes to major social, political, or cultural events, including federal legislation on same-sex marriage, the #MeToo movement, and Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy new research tells us that these are the kinds of social events that are prompting transformation not only in our explicit conscious values, but also in that cognitive monster of implicit bias,\u201d she said. Charlesworth believes it will take a similar movement of national reckoning to spark change in people\u2019s implicit biases about disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe amazing thing about Black Lives Matter and previous social movements [is that they] created national conversations that brought that bias to the front of everyone\u2019s mind,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you were sitting around at the dinner table, it was hard not to have a conversation about racism in the summer of 2020. I think that changing the conversation and bringing disability bias to the front of the mind for the everyday person will be necessary to change that bias as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banaji agreed that society needs to change the narrative when it comes to disability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecognizing the truth \u2014 that every disability may come with a unique way to know the world that could create innovation, a different way to solve problems,\u201d Banaji said. \u201cWhen we see somebody in a wheelchair, [let] the first association that pops into our heads be, \u2018Wow, I wonder what they know that I don\u2019t know. I wonder what they can teach me that I could never know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth says her next move will be to look around the nation to see whether there are localities or regions that are leading change on disability bias. Banaji noted that it could be useful to compare the different investments that city, state, or federal governments make to support the disabled and see whether they correlate with residents\u2019 attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are practices that you can do to start to become even just a little more aware of how implicit bias shows up,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cWhen I first started this research six years ago, I started noticing the number of places that don\u2019t have ramps or the number of places that have really narrow sidewalks. In and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem. That\u2019s how implicit bias becomes baked into our environments and can create these associations of who seems to be welcomed or valued.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n","\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>Our most negative societal prejudices can fade, but what sparks that change, and what does it mean when those views haven\u2019t budged in years? Tessa Charlesworth, a postdoc in the Department of Psychology, has dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/tessaescharlesworth.wordpress.com\/publications\/\">her research in recent years<\/a> to these questions, and some of her newest analysis has turned up a troubling trend involving implicit biases toward disabilities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/psychology.fas.harvard.edu\/people\/tessa-charlesworth\">Charlesworth, <\/a>Ph.D. \u201921, who works in the lab of\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.people.fas.harvard.edu\/~banaji\/\">Mahzarin Banaji,<\/a> has found that those hidden prejudices have hardly changed over a 14-year period and could take more than 200 years to reach neutrality, or zero bias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cImplicit bias <em>can<\/em> change. But so far, it\u2019s only changed for some groups,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cIt changed for sexuality and race bias pretty dramatically. Sexuality biases dropped 64 percent over 14 years, but it hasn\u2019t changed at all for disability, age, or body weight bias. Disability bias over 14 years has only shifted by 3 percent. The disparity between the change in sexuality bias and the stability in disability bias is massive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth noted that greater shifts are being seen in explicit biases, particularly those about disabilities, which have dropped 37 percent. She said that it is possible, given the long stability in implicit disability bias, that explicit biases could largely disappear before the implicit ones substantially budge.<\/p>\n<p>New data shows that, based on the rate of past movement, it will likely take more than 200 years for implicit disability biases to reach neutrality. Researchers make projections using forecasting techniques similar to those used in predicting stock markets or the weather. By contrast Charlesworth noted that changed attitudes on sexual orientation are already very close to reaching a point where survey respondents do not associate being gay with bad and straight with good.<\/p>\n<p>To track implicit biases, researchers tested how quickly subjects associated different concepts with being good or bad, using a test co-developed by Banaji, Charlesworth\u2019s adviser, the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, and a regular co-author. They then relied on data archives from the last 14 years to detect changes. They looked at six different social biases: race, sexuality, skin tone, body weight, age, and disability.<\/p>\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIn and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Tessa Charlesworth<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n<p>Implicit biases, which Charlesworth described as \u201cmore automatic and less controlled\u201d than more conscious explicit beliefs, are usually widespread in society and tend to come from personal experiences, upbringing, and the media, she said. Typically the majority of people have positive associations with groups who are dominant or hold power in society, such as those without disabilities or white men. On the other hand, individuals tend to have more negative associations with marginalized groups, including people of color, those with disabilities, or members of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n<p>As part of her research, Charlesworth challenged the longstanding assumption that implicit biases are so ingrained that they cannot be changed. She found that was not the case and that implicit bias shifts along with the views of the wider society.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HVnHQ4mhxnU&ab_channel=HarvardGraduateSchoolofArtsandSciences\">Harvard Horizons<\/a> talk last year, Charlesworth attributed big changes in other implicit attitudes to major social, political, or cultural events, including federal legislation on same-sex marriage, the #MeToo movement, and Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy new research tells us that these are the kinds of social events that are prompting transformation not only in our explicit conscious values, but also in that cognitive monster of implicit bias,\u201d she said. Charlesworth believes it will take a similar movement of national reckoning to spark change in people\u2019s implicit biases about disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe amazing thing about Black Lives Matter and previous social movements [is that they] created national conversations that brought that bias to the front of everyone\u2019s mind,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you were sitting around at the dinner table, it was hard not to have a conversation about racism in the summer of 2020. I think that changing the conversation and bringing disability bias to the front of the mind for the everyday person will be necessary to change that bias as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Banaji agreed that society needs to change the narrative when it comes to disability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecognizing the truth \u2014 that every disability may come with a unique way to know the world that could create innovation, a different way to solve problems,\u201d Banaji said. \u201cWhen we see somebody in a wheelchair, [let] the first association that pops into our heads be, \u2018Wow, I wonder what they know that I don\u2019t know. I wonder what they can teach me that I could never know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charlesworth says her next move will be to look around the nation to see whether there are localities or regions that are leading change on disability bias. Banaji noted that it could be useful to compare the different investments that city, state, or federal governments make to support the disabled and see whether they correlate with residents\u2019 attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are practices that you can do to start to become even just a little more aware of how implicit bias shows up,\u201d Charlesworth said. \u201cWhen I first started this research six years ago, I started noticing the number of places that don\u2019t have ramps or the number of places that have really narrow sidewalks. In and around Cambridge there are so many knobby brick roads with tree roots in the sidewalks that are totally ableist. And yet, for a long time, I just took that for granted and didn\u2019t think it was a problem. That\u2019s how implicit bias becomes baked into our environments and can create these associations of who seems to be welcomed or valued.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":292838,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/01\/tools-to-reverse-implicit-negative-prejudice-in-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":332849,"position":0},"title":"Unlearning racial bias","author":"Lian Parsons","date":"January 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Miao Qian, a postdoctoral research fellow with the Inequality in America Initiative, studies the development of implicit racial biases in children to understand better how and when unconscious prejudices and stereotypes form in the brain.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Asian woman standing in stairwell.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/121119_Qian_007_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/121119_Qian_007_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/121119_Qian_007_2500.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/121119_Qian_007_2500.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10538,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2007\/10\/mahzarin-banaji-looks-at-biology-of-bias\/","url_meta":{"origin":332849,"position":1},"title":"Mahzarin Banaji looks at biology of bias","author":"harvardgazette","date":"October 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Mahzarin R. Banaji, a Harvard social psychologist, studies how people think, and how they think they relate to one another. She\u2019s an expert in the little secrets we all have: those implicit attitudes \u2014 sometimes prejudicial \u2014 regarding race, age, gender, and similar territories of otherness.","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43864,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2004\/12\/making-case-for-concept-of-implicit-prejudice\/","url_meta":{"origin":332849,"position":2},"title":"Making case for concept of ‘implicit prejudice’","author":"gazetteimport","date":"December 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"It sounds like a bad joke: What happens when two psychologists and a lawyer join forces?","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Anthony Greenwald","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/12\/9-prejudice2-225-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":282928,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2019\/08\/harvard-study-suggests-racial-tension-may-stem-from-fear-of-exposure-to-infectious-diseases\/","url_meta":{"origin":332849,"position":3},"title":"What fuels prejudice?","author":"Lian Parsons","date":"August 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A postdoctoral fellow working in the lab of Psychology Professor Matt Nock,Brian O\u2019Shea is the lead author of a study that suggests racial tension may stem not from different groups being exposed to each other, but fear of a different sort of exposure \u2014 exposure to infectious diseases. The study\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Brian O'Shea","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/072219_OShea_050_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/072219_OShea_050_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/072219_OShea_050_2500.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/072219_OShea_050_2500.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":317863,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/12\/taking-a-hard-look-at-our-implicit-biases\/","url_meta":{"origin":332849,"position":4},"title":"Turning a light on our implicit biases","author":"harvardgazette","date":"December 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mahzarin Banaji, Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology, who studies implicit biases, was the featured speaker at an online seminar Tuesday, \u201cBlindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mahzarin Banaji","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/120820_Bias_004.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/120820_Bias_004.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/120820_Bias_004.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/120820_Bias_004.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":217742,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2017\/02\/when-bias-hurts-profits\/","url_meta":{"origin":332849,"position":5},"title":"When bias hurts profits","author":"gazettejohnbaglione","date":"February 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Based on data collected from a French grocery store chain, a new Harvard study has found that minority workers were far less efficient in a handful of important metrics when working with biased managers.","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Tech","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/012017_pallais_1079_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/012017_pallais_1079_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/012017_pallais_1079_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131912115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332849"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":337433,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332849\/revisions\/337433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332849"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=332849"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=332849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}