The Language of Bias: A Linguistic Approach to Understanding Intergroup Relations

[Excerpt] This chapter explores the role of language in the relationship between diversity and team performance. Specifically, we consider how a linguistic approach to social categorization may be used to study the social psychological mechanisms that underlie diversity effects. Using the results of a study examining the effects of gender, ethnicity and tenure on language abstraction, we consider the potential implications for team processes and effectiveness. In addition, we propose a revised team input-process-output model that highlights the potential effects of language on team processes. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research linking diversity, linguistic categorization and team effectiveness

Eighteen Million Cracks : Gender\u27s Role in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

In light of the 2008 presidential campaign, Gregory S. Parksand Jeffrey J. Rachlinski wrote an extensive analysis, titled A BetterMetric, likening the campaign to an interview process and hiringdecision for a high-ranking job. Though unpublished, their workspawned a number of published articles, book chapters, and a bookon the role of unconscious race and gender bias in the evaluations ofPresident Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Secretaryof State Hillary Clinton. In light of the analogy between voting andhiring decisions, this article argues that questions about sexism andgender bias along the campaign trail implicate the law. Title VII ofthe Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects individuals from gender bias inthe workplace. While modern conceptions of how such bias actuallyoperates, largely drawn from social and cognitive psychology, shouldaid legal decision-makers in determining whether bias indeed occurredin any particular case, greater insight into the intersection of psychologyand the law is needed. Here, we explore the roles that sexism andimplicit, or unconscious, gender bias played in the 2008 presidentialrace, analyzing these factors through the lens of Title VII. Further, webuttress the proposition put forth by a growing body of legal scholarsthat the role of implicit attitudes in decision-making has significantimplications for Title VII jurisprudence

Michelle Obama: A Contemporary Analysis of Race and Gender Discrimination through the Lens of Title VII

Pundits and commentators have attempted to make sense of the role that race and gender played in the 2008 presidential campaign. Whereas researchers are drawing on varying bodies of scholarship to illuminate the role that President-elect, Senator Obama\u27s race and Senator Clinton\u27s gender had on their campaigns, Michelle Obama has been left out of the discussion. As Senator Clinton once noted, elections are like hiring decisions. As such, new frontiers in employment discrimination law place Michelle Obama in context within the current presidential campaign. First, racism and sexism are both alive and well within the domains of politics and employment. Second, most racial and gender bias is not express, but unconscious. Third, under Title VII, employment discrimination may be directed at a third party for their association with members of a disliked group. Here, some voters\u27 unconscious race and gender biases against Mrs. Obama likely affected their voting decision vis-a-vis Senator Obama

Michelle Obama: the Darker Side of Presidential Spousal Involvement and Activism

Pundits and commentators have attempted to make sense of the role that race and gender have played in the 2008 presidential campaign. Whereas researchers are drawing on varying bodies of scholarship (legal, cognitive and social psychology, and political science) to illuminate the role that Senator Obama’s race and Senator Clinton’s gender has/had on their campaign, Michelle Obama has been left out of the discussion. As Senator Clinton once noted, elections are like hiring decisions. As such, new frontiers in employment discrimination law place Michelle Obama in context within the current presidential campaign. First, racism and sexism are both alive and well within the domains of politics and employment. And within both domains, the intersection of these biases uniquely handicap Black women. As such, Michelle Obama, as an individual who has broken the socially acceptable constrictions of race and gender, has suffered some backlash as a result of her beliefs and actions. Second, most racial and gender bias is not express, but unconscious. And these unconscious biases influence behavior—including voting and hiring/promotion. In that vein, there are instances during the 2008 campaign where unconscious biases against Mrs. Obama have occurred. Such instances are similar to fact-patterns in employment discrimination cases. Third, under Title VII, employment discrimination may be directed at a third party for their association with members of a disliked group. Here, some voters’ unconscious race and gender biases against Mrs. Obama likely affected/affects their voting decision vis-à-vis Senator Obama

Measurements at low energies of the polarization-transfer coefficient Kyy' for the reaction 3H(p,n)3He at 0 degrees

Measurements of the transverse polarization coefficient Kyy' for the reaction 3H(p,n)3He are reported for outgoing neutron energies of 1.94, 5.21, and 5.81 MeV. This reaction is important both as a source of polarized neutrons for nuclear physics experiments, and as a test of theoretical descriptions of the nuclear four-body system. Comparison is made to previous measurements, confirming the 3H(p,n)3He reaction can be used as a polarized neutron source with the polarization known to an accuracy of approximately 5%. Comparison to R-matrix theory suggests that the sign of the 3F3 phase-shift parameter is incorrect. Changing the sign of this parameter dramatically improves the agreement between theory and experiment.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 5 eps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Parity Violation in Neutron Resonances in 107,109Ag

Parity nonconservation (PNC) was studied in p-wave resonances in Ag by measuring the helicity dependence of the neutron total cross section. Transmission measurements on natural Ag were performed in the energy range 32 to 422 eV with the time-of-flight method at the Manuel Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A total of 15 p-wave neutron resonances were studied in 107Ag and ninep-wave resonances in 109Ag. Statistically significant asymmetries were observed for eight resonances in 107Ag and for four resonances in109Ag. An analysis treating the PNC matrix elements as random variables yields a weak spreading width of Γw=(2.67-1.21+2.65)×10-7 eV for107Ag and Γw=(1.30-0.74+2.49)×10-7 eV for 109Ag

Perfect Strategies for Non-Local Games

We describe the main classes of non-signalling bipartite correlations in terms of states on operator system tensor products. This leads to the introduction of another new class of games, called reflexive games, which are characterised as the hardest non-local games that can be won using a given set of strategies. We provide a characterisation of their perfect strategies in terms of operator system quotients. We introduce a new class of non-local games, called imitation games, in which the players display linked behaviour, and which contain as subclasses the classes of variable assignment games, binary constraint system games, synchronous games, many games based on graphs, and unique games. We associate a C*-algebra C * (G) to any imitation game G, and show that the existence of perfect quantum commuting (resp. quantum, local) strategies of G can be characterised in terms of properties of this C*algebra. We single out a subclass of imitation games, which we callmirror games, and provide a characterisation of their quantum commuting strategies that has an algebraic flavour, showing in addition that their approximately quantum perfect strategies arise from amenable traces on the encoding C*-algebra