Mechanistic Underpinnings of SOcial BIAS – SO-BIAS

In western countries, people report holding fewer racist and sexist attitudes than a decade ago, yet discrimination and inequalities persist. This issue can be examined at two interrelated levels: the systemic roots of racism and sexism, well-documented by sociological research, and the individual-level reproduction of inequalities through implicit associations between appearance or group membership and traits, beliefs or attitudes, which can bias behavior. To fight discrimination and inequalities, it is crucial to address both levels. At the individual level, experimental evidence suggests that people can exert some control over the expression of their implicit biases, yet the factors that facilitate or hinder this control are poorly understood.
Our project seeks to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms underlying implicit bias expression through the investigation of key contextual factors influencing bias control. The dual-process theory of behavior causation has traditionally guided research on implicit cognition, considering bias expression as habitual responses, which are automatically activated by the stimulus (stimulus-driven) and independent from individuals’ motivation to be unprejudiced. Therefore, the concept of implicit bias is often presented with an emphasis on its automaticity, i.e., portraying it as something that is entirely outside of personal control, which can inadvertently create a sense of fatalism (i.e., “it is not my responsibility”). Nonetheless, more recent studies propose that implicit biases can reflect non-habitual, instrumental, processes. In this sense, goal-directed processes would govern the expression of implicit associations based on their expected utility. In other words, compared to stimulus-driven theories, this perspective suggests that individual’s motivation, goals and objectives play an active role in determining how biased their decisions are. We argue that such a perspective, while initially appearing more accusatory, can empower individuals to take responsibility for their actions and actively overcome their biases, which seems a necessary step to fight discrimination.
In this interdisciplinary project, we propose to investigate the contribution of goal-directed processes to the emergence of biased behaviors in social contexts. We propose three interrelated work packages: WP0 will develop a standardized database of faces representative of the French population. WP1 will investigate the context-dependency of implicit bias expression and control, by manipulating decision-irrelevant mental load and task framing. WP2 will broaden the scope to more ecological decision-making scenarios, testing whether implicit biases are sensitive to outcome value (e.g., decisions with personally relevant or irrelevant outcomes). In both WP1&WP2, we will conduct experimental studies on first impressions of competence, using behavioral measures (choices and RTs) alongside computational modeling (drift-diffusion models) and physiological recordings (pupillometry and EEG). This multi-faceted approach will offer comprehensive insights into the dynamics of bias expression and control. Distinguishing between a stimulus-driven and a goal-directed account of implicit biases will provide important insights to determine the most efficient strategy for limiting the influence of discriminatory biases in critical strategic decisions characterized by a high cognitive load (e.g., hiring decisions).