Though unemployment was low across the United States at 3.3% in 2019, it was almost double that for Black people at 5.4% in 2019 (https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpsee_e16.htm). Because the interviewer’s attention to the eyes of a job candidate produces a better understanding of the candidate, it is possible that identifying racial bias in eye contact during the interview process could reduce racial disparities in unemployment. We will investigate how attention to the candidate’s eyes moderates race and gender disparities in hiring decisions. Participants will look at either a White man, Black man, White woman, or Black woman who is ostensibly a job candidate while listening to a supposed recording of that candidate during a job interview. Notably, participants will listen to the same male voice recording regardless of the race of the man and will listen to the same female voice recording regardless of the race of the woman. While participants listen to the recording, we will track where their eyes focus. We predict for the White male candidate high attention to the candidate’s eyes during the interview will lead to high interview scores, whereas low attention to the eyes will lead to low scores. For the White female candidate, we predict less attention to the eyes than the White male candidate, as well as lower interview scores. For the Black male and female candidates, we expect low interview scores, but no difference based on attention to the eyes. Future research should examine what causes racial disparities in attention to the eyes
