The Penalties For Self-Reporting Sexual Harassment

an article by Chloe Grace Hart (Stanford University, USA) published in Gender & Society Volume 33 Issue 4 (August 2019)

Abstract

Although sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal, it often goes unreported.

This study employs causal evidence to evaluate one deterrent to reporting: bias against women known to be sexual harassment targets.

I theorize about the form this bias takes and test the argument with a national survey experiment run in five waves from October 2017 to February 2018, where participants were asked to propose employment outcomes for an employee with one of four harassment experiences.

Participants were less likely to recommend a woman for promotion if she self-reported sexual harassment relative to otherwise identical women who experienced nonsexual harassment or whose sexual harassment was reported by a coworker. The woman who self-reported sexual harassment experienced normative discrimination: that is, the promotion bias was significantly mediated by perceptions that she was less moral, warm, and socially skilled than the woman whose coworker reported her sexual harassment.

These results indicate that women may hesitate to report sexual harassment because they rightly perceive that doing so could cause them to experience bias. Yet they also suggest that bias can be avoided if a bystander reports the harassment.

Finally, exploratory analyses suggest that in the wake of #MeToo this bias may be fading.

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When in Rome... On local norms and sentencing decisions

a column by David Abrams, Roberto Galbiati, Emeric Henry and Arnaud Philippefor VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

The rule of law in advanced democracies is based on the assumption that the law and its application are the same for all citizens. But research has shown that judges respond to ideology or political biases in their sentencing decisions.

This column examines how location can also influence criminal court sentences using data from the US state of North Carolina’s superior court system. It shows that, even after controlling for characteristics of judges, sentencing varies by location and responds to local norms.

Continue reading

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Everyone is biased, including you: the play designed by neuroscientists

an article by Nic Fleming published in the Guardian

We all cling to beliefs despite the evidence. Immersive theatre experience The Justice Syndicate aims to show why


Justice Syndicate jury members debrief in Dundee Sheriff court after reaching their verdict. Photograph: Drew Farrell

“It’s her word against his,” says a middle-aged male juror in thick-rimmed glasses. “Someone of his experience wouldn’t do something so risky.” A woman to my right says the defendant is probably guilty, but maybe not beyond reasonable doubt. “But why would she lie?” asks another female juror.

Eleven strangers and I are discussing whether renowned children’s surgeon Simon Huxtable tried to rape Sally Hodges, the mother of a former patient. She says he tried to kiss her and then force himself on her. Huxtable says Hodges made up the allegation after he spurned her advances. Mobile phone records show he was at her home for 26 minutes but he told police he was there for only 10. His browsing history reveals he has an interest in rape porn.

Continue reading believe me it is worth it.

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The Validity of Social Media–Based Career Information

an article by James P. Sampson, Debra S. Osborn, Pei‐Chun Hou and Adam K. Miller (Florida State University, USA), Jaana Kettunen (University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland) and Julia P. Makela (University of Illinois, USA) published in The Career Development Quarterly Volume 66 Issue 2 (June 2018)

Abstract

The use of social media expands the availability and sources of career information. However, the authorship of this information has changed from traditional print media and multimedia sources created by experts to social media–based career information created by the users themselves.

Although variability in career information validity has been an issue for some time, rapid growth in the use of social media creates some unique challenges. The ease with which social media–based career information can spread creates the potential for rapid widespread dissemination of disinformation and biased perceptions.

Potential sources of invalidity include intentional bias (with or without profit motive), unintentional bias, restricted range of experience, out‐of‐date information, popularity bias, similarity bias, and context deficiency.

The authors examine potential sources of social media–based career information invalidity and suggest implications for practice to help individuals make the best use of such information.

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Island of saints, scholars and queers!

an article by Aideen Quilty (School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, UCD, Ireland) published in Elm: European Lifelong Learning Magazine (14 October 2016)

Religion, economics and sexuality matter to adult education. They matter because they all relate to how prejudice and all forms of bias operate in society. They matter because they influence what is taught, who benefits from what is taught and how people are treated within our adult education classrooms. And all three matter in Ireland.

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The Role of Search Result Position and Source Trustworthiness in the Selection of Web Search Results When Using a List or a Grid Interface

an article by Yvonne Kammerer and Peter Gerjets (Knowledge Media Research Center, Tuebingen, Germany) published in International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Volume 30 Issue 3 (March 2014)

Abstract

Previous research indicates that web users rely to a great extent on the ranking provided by the search engine and predominantly access the first few web pages presented. In case that the information sources presented in the top of the search engine results page (SERP) are of rather low trustworthiness, this might lead to a biased or incomplete view of the topic – especially when dealing with controversial issues.

Study 1, thus, systematically investigated whether participants who were asked to search for an unfamiliar and controversial medical issue accessed fewer trustworthy information sources and consequently included less information from trustworthy pages in their argumentation when the search results were ranked from least to most trustworthy on a Google-like SERP than when they were ranked from most to least trustworthy. Results from Study 1 confirmed these assumptions.

Furthermore, Study 2 showed that when the same materials were presented in a grid interface, the impact of the position of the search results on their selection was substantially reduced. Irrespective of whether the most trustworthy search results were presented in the top or the bottom row of the grid interface, users predominantly selected the most trustworthy search results from the SERP and included the same amount of information from trustworthy pages in their argumentation.

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Objective but not detached: Partisanship in industrial relations research

an article by Ralph Darlington (University of Salford, UK) and John Dobson (Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration, Latvia) published in Capital & Class Volume 37 Number 2 (June 2013)

Abstract

This article considers whether industrial relations (IR) research is objective, impartial or value-free, and argues that many IR academics in Britain have tended to start from a social-democratic premise which makes them relatively more sympathetic to the interests and objectives of workers and their trade unions than to the business needs of employers and managers.

Focusing attention on the partisanship of those who have made a distinctive ‘radical/critical’ contribution to IR scholarship, it advances the argument that IR can, at one and the same time, be both partisan and objective.

Acknowledging the real potential dangers of bias in adopting a methodological approach that states, in the words of C. Wright Mills, ‘I have tried to be objective, but I do not claim to be detached’, it provides a defence of the potential merits of partisanship, provided it is underpinned by rigorous scholarly research.

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Problems with single interest scales: Implications of the general factor

an article by Terence J.G. Tracey (Arizona State University, Tempe, USA) published in Journal of Vocational Behavior Volume 81 Issue 3 (December 2012)

Abstract

The presence of the general factor in interest and self-efficacy assessment and its meaning are reviewed.

The general factor is found in all interest and self-efficacy assessment and has been viewed as:

1. a nuisance factor with little effect on assessment,
2. a variable having substantive meaning and thus worthy of including in interpretation, and
3. as systematic bias that distorts the interpretation of the meaning of assessments.

The premise of this article is that each interpretation is correct but only depending upon the context of the assessment. The main implication is that narrow single content interest scales are very subject to contaminating effects of the general factor making interpretation very difficult.

Methods of correcting this contamination are presented.

Highlights

► The general factor is present in all interest and self-efficacy measurement.
► The general factor is nuisance, has meaning or is bias depending upon context.
► Narrow interest scales are subject to systematic bias.
► Only by ipsatizing narrow interest scales can valid interpretations result.

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