bias

In the news this week, a look at machine intelligence making moral decisions. See what else you may have missed online.

Recently in the news, written a post, or have selections you'd like us to consider? Email us, use the hashtag #SPSPblog, or tweet us directly @spspnews.

This week saw the passing of two greats in the field: John Darley and Walter Mischel. See what else you may have missed online.

Recently in the news, written a post, or have selections you'd like us to consider? Email us, use the hashtag #SPSPblog, or tweet us directly @spspnews.

A few years ago, I had my first conflict with a colleague. It seemed trivial: we were arguing over toys. While it may have seemed like we were acting like the children who play with them, the conversation was much bigger than toys. It was about gender bias and inequality.

According to the most recent U.S. census, approximately 15 percent of all newlywed couples are interracial. More interracial relationships are also appearing in the media – on television, in film and in advertising. These trends suggest that great strides have been made in the roughly 50 years since the Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws.

The sexual double standard (SDS) is a belief that access to sexuality varies by gender. According to SDS, women are expected to be passive “gatekeepers” of sexual activity; men the “initiators.” Women are socially punished for having sex; men are rewarded. In a set of two experiments, Dr. Yuliana Zaikman examined how these gendered stereotypes might influence the way people think about sexual consent.

On the Blogs

The current requirements for diversity training at universities fall short of addressing the pervasive gender, racial, and ethnic biases in academia.

By Dave Nussbaum

Psychology figured prominently in last week’s launch of the much-anticipated Vox.com website. Their goal is to help people understand the news, an approach that’s picked up the title “explanatory journalism”: