Embedded Racial Bias

By Deane Barker • January 4, 2015 • tags: social-justice •

AI Summary

This post explores the presence of implicit racial biases in technology and design, highlighting how these biases can be embedded in products and systems. The author emphasizes the need for awareness and proactive measures to address and mitigate these biases to promote fairness and inclusivity.

Racial Bias, Even When We Have Good Intentions: A good (bad?) roll up of studies which show that embedded, perhaps subconscious racism is alive and well.

When doctors were shown patient histories and asked to make judgments about heart disease, they were much less likely to recommend cardiac catheterization (a helpful procedure) to black patients […]
When whites and blacks were sent to bargain for a used car, blacks were offered initial prices roughly $700 higher, and they received far smaller concessions.
[…] sending emails with stereotypically black names in response to apartment-rental ads on Craigslist elicited fewer responses than sending ones with white names.
White state legislators were found to be less likely to respond to constituents with African-American names. This was true of legislators in both political parties.
Emails sent to faculty members at universities, asking to talk about research opportunities, were more likely to get a reply if a stereotypically white name was used.
Even eBay auctions were not immune. When iPods were auctioned on eBay, researchers randomly varied the skin color on the hand holding the iPod. A white hand holding the iPod received 21 percent more offers than a black hand.

Lots more in the article, including some analysis as to why this happens.