scholarly journals Can we reduce facial biases? Persistent effects of facial trustworthiness on sentencing decisions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Jaeger ◽  
Alexander Todorov ◽  
Anthony M Evans ◽  
Ilja van Beest
Keyword(s):  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Guilty Verdict ◽  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Facial Information ◽  
Final Verdict ◽  
Biasing Effects ◽  
Trait Impressions ◽  
Facial Trustworthiness

Trait impressions from faces influence many consequential decisions even in situations in which decisions should not be based on a person’s appearance. Here, we test (a) whether people rely on trait impressions when making legal sentencing decisions and (b) whether two types of interventions—educating decision-makers and changing the accessibility of facial information—reduce the influence of facial stereotypes. We first introduced a novel legal decision-making paradigm. Results of a pretest (n = 320) showed that defendants with an untrustworthy (vs. trustworthy) facial appearance were found guilty more often. We then tested the effectiveness of different interventions in reducing the influence of facial stereotypes. Educating participants about the biasing effects of facial stereotypes reduced explicit beliefs that personality is reflected in facial features, but did not reduce the influence of facial stereotypes on verdicts (Study 1, n = 979). In Study 2 (n = 975), we presented information sequentially to disrupt the intuitive accessibility of trait impressions. Participants indicated an initial verdict based on case-relevant information and a final verdict based on all information (including facial photographs). The majority of initial sentences were not revised and therefore unbiased. However, most revised sentences were in line with facial stereotypes (e.g., a guilty verdict for an untrustworthy-looking defendant). On average, this actually increased facial bias in verdicts. Together, our findings highlight the persistent influence of trait impressions from faces on legal sentencing decisions.

Haunted by a Doppelgänger

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina von Helversen ◽  
Stefan M. Herzog ◽  
Jörg Rieskamp
Keyword(s):  
Relevant Information ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Human Judgment ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
New Employees ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Facial Similarity ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Judgment Strategy

Judging other people is a common and important task. Every day professionals make decisions that affect the lives of other people when they diagnose medical conditions, grant parole, or hire new employees. To prevent discrimination, professional standards require that decision makers render accurate and unbiased judgments solely based on relevant information. Facial similarity to previously encountered persons can be a potential source of bias. Psychological research suggests that people only rely on similarity-based judgment strategies if the provided information does not allow them to make accurate rule-based judgments. Our study shows, however, that facial similarity to previously encountered persons influences judgment even in situations in which relevant information is available for making accurate rule-based judgments and where similarity is irrelevant for the task and relying on similarity is detrimental. In two experiments in an employment context we show that applicants who looked similar to high-performing former employees were judged as more suitable than applicants who looked similar to low-performing former employees. This similarity effect was found despite the fact that the participants used the relevant résumé information about the applicants by following a rule-based judgment strategy. These findings suggest that similarity-based and rule-based processes simultaneously underlie human judgment.

CAN BAYESIAN METHODS MAKE DATA AND ANALYSES MORE RELEVANT TO DECISION MAKERS?

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven H. Sheingold
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Bayesian Methods ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Bayesian Approaches ◽  
Bayesian Analyses ◽  
And Performance

Decision making in health care has become increasingly reliant on information technology, evidence-based processes, and performance measurement. It is therefore a time at which it is of critical importance to make data and analyses more relevant to decision makers. Those who support Bayesian approaches contend that their analyses provide more relevant information for decision making than do classical or “frequentist” methods, and that a paradigm shift to the former is long overdue. While formal Bayesian analyses may eventually play an important role in decision making, there are several obstacles to overcome if these methods are to gain acceptance in an environment dominated by frequentist approaches. Supporters of Bayesian statistics must find more accommodating approaches to making their case, especially in finding ways to make these methods more transparent and accessible. Moreover, they must better understand the decision-making environment they hope to influence. This paper discusses these issues and provides some suggestions for overcoming some of these barriers to greater acceptance.

The biasing effects of appearances go beyond physical attractiveness and mating motives

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Y. Olivola ◽  
Alexander Todorov
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Physical Attractiveness ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
Experimental Economic ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Social Attributions ◽  
Biasing Effects

AbstractThe influence of appearances goes well beyond physical attractiveness and includes the surprisingly powerful impact of “face-ism” – the tendency to stereotype individuals based on their facial features. A growing body of research has revealed that these face-based social attributions bias the outcomes of labor markets and experimental economic games in ways that are hard to explain via evolutionary mating motives.

Conceptualizing Emergency Department Scenarios

2015 ◽  
pp. 1351-1368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Kaner ◽  
Tamar Gadrich ◽  
Shuki Dror ◽  
Yariv N. Marmor
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Literature Survey ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Simulation Experiments ◽  
Management Staff ◽  
Ed Operations ◽  
Relevant Factors

To handle problems and trends in emergency department (ED) operations, designers and decision makers often simulate and evaluate various case-specific scenarios before testing them in a real-life environment. However, conceptualizing broad possible scenarios for ED operations prior to simulation operationalization is usually neglected. The authors developed a methodology that integrates design of simulation experiments (DSE) as follows: 1) From a literature survey, they culled generic factors whose varying levels determine possible scenarios; 2) the authors drew up a set of generic interactions among these generic factors; 3) a questionnaire was constructed to serve as an instrument to gather the relevant information from management staff about relevant factors, their levels and interactions for a specific ED. Questionnaire responses support a schematic conceptualization of scenarios that should be simulated for a specific ED. They illustrate the application of the authors' methodology for conceptualization of ED simulation scenarios in two different EDs.

Data Warehousing and OLAP

2008 ◽  
pp. 169-178
Author(s):  
Jose Hernandez-Orallo
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Data Warehousing ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Decision Makers

Information systems provide organizations with the necessary information to achieve their goals. Relevant information is gathered and stored to allow decision makers to obtain quick and elaborated reports from the data.

Conceptualizing Emergency Department Scenarios

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-46
Author(s):  
Maya Kaner ◽  
Tamar Gadrich ◽  
Shuki Dror ◽  
Yariv Marmor
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Literature Survey ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Simulation Experiments ◽  
Management Staff ◽  
Ed Operations ◽  
Relevant Factors

To handle problems and trends in emergency department (ED) operations, designers and decision makers often simulate and evaluate various case-specific scenarios before testing them in a real-life environment. However, conceptualizing broad possible scenarios for ED operations prior to simulation operationalization is usually neglected. The authors developed a methodology that integrates design of simulation experiments (DSE) as follows: 1) From a literature survey, they culled generic factors whose varying levels determine possible scenarios; 2) the authors drew up a set of generic interactions among these generic factors; 3) a questionnaire was constructed to serve as an instrument to gather the relevant information from management staff about relevant factors, their levels and interactions for a specific ED. Questionnaire responses support a schematic conceptualization of scenarios that should be simulated for a specific ED. They illustrate the application of the authors’ methodology for conceptualization of ED simulation scenarios in two different EDs.

scholarly journals Can we reduce facial biases? Persistent effects of facial trustworthiness on sentencing decisions

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 104004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastian Jaeger ◽  
Alexander T. Todorov ◽  
Anthony M. Evans ◽  
Ilja van Beest
Keyword(s):  
Sentencing Decisions ◽  
Facial Trustworthiness

How does HTA addresses current social expectations? An international survey

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Hubert Gagnon ◽  
Georges-Auguste Legault ◽  
Christian A. Bellemare ◽  
Monelle Parent ◽  
Pierre Dagenais ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Role ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Ethical Analysis ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
International Survey ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Three Phase ◽  
The Status

Abstract Objectives Integration of ethics into technology assessment in healthcare (HTA) reports is directly linked to the need of decision makers to provide rational grounds justifying their social choices. In a decision-making paradigm, facts and values are intertwined and the social role of HTA reports is to provide relevant information to decision makers. Since 2003, numerous surveys and discussions have addressed different aspects of the integration of ethics into HTA. This study aims to clarify how HTA professionals consider the integration of ethics into HTA, so an international survey was conducted in 2018 and the results are reported here. Methods A survey comprising twenty-two questions was designed and carried out from April 2018 to July 2018. Three hundred and twenty-eight HTA agencies from seventy-five countries were invited to participate in this survey. Results Eighty-nine participants completed the survey, representing a participation rate of twenty-seven percent. As to how HTA reports should fulfill their social role, over 84 percent of respondents agreed upon the necessity to address this role for decision makers, patients, and citizens. At a lower level, the same was found regarding the necessity to make value-judgments explicit in different report sections, including ethical analysis. This contrasts with the response-variability obtained on the status of ethical analysis with the exception of the expertise required. Variability in stakeholder-participation usefulness was also observed. Conclusions This study reveals the importance of a three-phase approach, including assessment, contextual data, and recommendations, and highlights the necessity to make explicit value-judgments and have a systematic ethical analysis in order to fulfill HTA's social role in guiding decision makers.

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