Unconscious Bias and Legal Considerations
The brain is naturally inclined to make generalizations — some true, some false, some good, some bad. Generalizations can result in stereotypes and biases. We have the power to self-regulate to foster more positive connections and allow individuals to communicate confidently with one another.
This course uses positive psychology and relevant research to teach learners about unconscious bias and the legal concerns that can arise because of unconscious bias-related discrimination. Learners will go through interactive exercises to explore course concepts and leave empowered to demonstrate inclusive behaviors and contribute to inclusive work cultures.
Course Outcomes
- Gain insights to how the brain works, how biases develop and why they’re bad for business
- Understand the fundamentals of cognitive psychology and how to avoid errors caused by automatic thinking
- Explore the power of the brain to undo flawed or biased thinking and provide more freedom of thought
- Eliminate stereotypes using 5 research-based strategies to reduce unconscious bias
- Investigate the costs and benefits associated with inclusive thinking and behavior
- Prevent implicit biases from turning into harassment
- Reduce the impact of implicit bias on the hiring process and on performance evaluations
Course Agenda
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Unconscious Bias and Legal Considerations
The brain is naturally inclined to make generalizations — some true, some false, some good, some bad. Generalizations can result in stereotypes and biases. We have the power to self-regulate to foster more positive connections and allow individuals to communicate confidently with one another.
This course uses positive psychology and relevant research to teach learners about unconscious bias and the legal concerns that can arise because of unconscious bias-related discrimination. Learners will go through interactive exercises to explore course concepts and leave empowered to demonstrate inclusive behaviors and contribute to inclusive work cultures.
Module 1: Reconsidering Certainty and Doubt
Learn how to use doubt to question your own certainty about things that are taken as common sense.
- Describe the role of certainty in your life and how you feel when something you were certain of is shown to be wrong
- Explain the value of using doubt to discover what you can be sure is true
- Summarize how relying too much on common sense can lead to errors in thinking
Module 2: Confirmation Bias
While we all see the world the way we want to, knowing about confirmation bias keeps us from making the mistake of ignoring the world as it is.
- Explain what confirmation bias is, and the role it plays in your personal and work lives
- Identify what cognitive dissonance is, and how it makes you feel
- Summarize how confirmation bias can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy
Module 3: Schemas and Heuristics
Discover how the way we see the world affects our behaviors and decisions.
- Explain how you use schemas to assimilate and accommodate new information and deal with the unknown
- Discuss how heuristics take the place of good decision making when we rely on automatic thinking
- Describe how availability and familiarity heuristics often lead to poor decision making when dealing with complicated problems, situations and experiences
Module 4: The Power We Have
Using the ability of the executive functions, it’s possible to overcome automatic thinking, including biases.
- Explain the power of the executive functions in your brain, and how they make it possible to overcome automatic or biased thinking
- Describe how the executive functions in your brain allow you to imagine your way out of complex and seemingly intractable problems and situations
- Describe how the executive functions in your brain are related to freedom of thought and action, and how that freedom makes it possible to adapt to situations and change as needed
Module 5: Legal Considerations Related to Implicit Bias — Harassment
Learn about the relationship between harassment, hostile work environments and implicit bias.
- Identify the relationship between harassment, hostile work environments and implicit bias
- Summarize the criteria for harassment and how pervasive unwelcome conduct emerging from implicit bias can lead to harassment
- Describe how and when to escalate incidents of implicit bias to prevent a pervasive, ongoing pattern that would constitute harassment
Module 6: Legal Considerations — Hiring, Performance Evaluation and Implicit Bias
Learn how unintentional discrimination can lead to discriminatory outcomes.
- Explain the relationship between disparate impact discrimination law and implicit bias, and how automated thinking can contribute to unconscious bias
- Summarize the impact of implicit bias on hiring and cognitive strategies for overcoming bias in hiring
- Discuss how implicit bias factors into performance review ratings and how removing performance review rating biases can be done
- Identify the operational leadership tasks to be completed in the first year in a leader role
- Identify the social and networking leadership tasks to be completed in the first year in a leader role
- Identify the talent management and servant leader tasks to be completed in the first year in a leader role