Increasing the perceived malleability of gender bias using a modified Video Intervention for Diversity in STEM (VIDS)

Bias awareness programs that highlight the pervasiveness of gender bias may contribute to the mindset that gender bias cannot be changed. However, adding a discussion of concrete tools for addressing bias to such trainings can promote participants' belief in their ability to take action to address bias. All outcomes were reported as means (M) on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 points, with 1 indicating lower levels of sexism, bias awareness, self-efficacy, and so on, and 5 indicating higher levels.

• The Video Intervention for Diversity in STEM (VIDS), a program that highlights the pervasiveness of gender bias, is effective in increasing participants’ awareness of bias (M = 3.86 vs. M =3.44 in the control), reducing their level of sexism (M = 2.20 vs. M = 2.54 in the control), and improving their ability to identify bias (M = 3.83 vs. M = 3.49 in the control).
• However, participants who only complete the VIDS bias literacy program may experience lower levels of “self-efficacy” about gender bias than people who do not take any bias training.
  • In other words, people who take the VIDS training are more likely to believe that the problem of gender bias cannot be changed (M=3.66) and do not feel empowered to change it compared to those who have taken no training at all (M = 4.15).
• The UNITE module is a training program that provides concrete tools for addressing gender bias. Participants who complete both the VIDS and UNITE programs are more likely to have a restored sense of “self-efficacy,”(M=4.19) compared to people who complete the VIDS training alone (M = 3.98) and compared to people who took no training at all.
  • In other words, participants who learn about the pervasiveness of gender bias, as well as concrete tools for addressing gender bias, are more likely to feel empowered to take action to change gender bias.
• The combination of the VIDS and UNITE programs is effective for both men and women, but it may be particularly effective for people who begin the program with lower levels of awareness of gender bias, especially men.
• The effects of the VIDS and UNITE intervention can be observed even one week after the intervention.

In this study, researchers examined the effectiveness of a bias awareness program, VIDS, for promoting feelings of self-efficacy, specifically if a module is added to provide concrete tools for addressing bias. In the first study, 343 full-time workers were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (mTurk). The participants were shown either the Video Interventions for Diversity in STEM (VIDS) content or the control, based on random assignment. The VIDS program showed narrative content about people’s experiences with bias as well as expert testimony about research on bias. Then, participants were then either shown the UNITE module, which included tools for addressing bias and examples of people who improved their biases, or the control, which was also based on random assignment. The UNITE and the control modules were created using Microsoft PowerPoint and consisted of automatically advancing slides,thereby ensuring that the participants were exposed to the content within fixed amounts of time. The tools that UNITE provided to decrease bias included recommendations to emphasize effective diversity training, notice and correct for one’s own implicit biases, include inclusive pictures and language, take time to mentor fellow employees, emphasize that employees can and will improve. Participants were then assessed on a number of metrics, including their awareness of gender bias in the workplace, their own degree of gender bias, bias identification and false identification, the extent of growth mindset about gender bias (believing that a mindset can change), and their level of self-efficacy about gender bias (believing that they feel like they can stop gender bias in the workplace). In the second study, 149 science faculty members were recruited from the Summer Institute (SI) on Scientific Teaching. The same procedure from the first experiment was repeated with this group, with the exception that the materials for the first experiment focused on “addressing gender bias in the workplace” and those for the second experiment focused on “addressing gender bias in the classroom.” In order to assess the longer-term effects of the training, researchers followed up with participants after one week. Future research can investigate whether these findings are generalizable to biases regarding other or multiple marginalized identities.