[talks] Lecture by Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard): "Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People" (4:30pm Apr 13, McCosh 50)

[Scott Karlin]

BLINDSPOT: HIDDEN BIASES OF GOOD PEOPLE

Introduction by
DEBORAH A. PRENTICE
Dean of the Faculty, Alexander Stewart 1886
Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs


Keynote by
MAHZARIN BANAJI
Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics,
Harvard University, Department of Psychology

Mahzarin Banaji studies unconscious thinking and feeling as they unfold
in social group contexts and influence decisions about people’s worth,
goodness, and competence. She is the author of the best-selling book
Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People with Anthony Greenwald, 
published by Random House.

This lecture is participatory, involving educational and even 
entertaining interactive exercises. It is geared toward providing 
insights into how our minds work, often in a surprising and even 
perplexing manner.

Professor Banaji will speak to the question of how well-intentioned 
people behave in ways that deviate from their own values and principles, 
and how this state of affairs compromises decisions in the social 
context: decisions about a person’s worth and competence as it plays out 
in public settings whether it be schools, the workplace, or the street.

The purpose of the lecture is to reveal mental blindspots that can 
compromise our professional and personal decisions if they are left 
unattended and to begin a conversation about what might be done to allow 
us to lead the examined life we aspire to.

APRIL 13, 2017, 4:30PM, MCCOSH 50