Confronting Bias in
Collaborative Teams
Louise Rollins, MA, CED
Early Hearing Detection and
Intervention conference
February 28, 2017
Participants will be able to:
• Define and give examples of othering.
• Define and give examples of group attribution bias.
• Explain the impact these types of bias have on
collaborative teams.
• State 3 strategies for confronting or reducing these
types of bias in professional relationships.
My background
• State school for the deaf, partnering with local Infants & Toddlers
Programs
• 2 different public school systems
• Currently - split position
•
D/HH Preschool (ASL, Total Communication, Cued Speech, & Spoken English)
•
D/HH 3rd graders (spoken English)
• Founding member of MD/DC Hands & Voices
• CODA
Othering
● Rooted in Sociology
● Now used often in Social Work
Ot her (verb)
To view or treat (a person or group of people) as
intrinsically different from and alien to oneself.
(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com)
The processes by which people are made to sharply
contrast with ‘us.’ (A Dictionary of Social Work & Social Care,
p 337)
Othering
What does it look like?
● Us vs. them thinking
● “The ________”
● “Those ________”
Group Attribution Bias
● AKA group attribution error
● A social type of cognitive bias
Gr ou p At t r ibu t ion Bias
The tendency for perceivers to assume that a specific
group member's personal characteristics and
preferences, including beliefs, attitudes and
decisions are similar to the preferences of the group
to which they belong to. (http://psychologydictionary.org)
Group Attribution Bias(or group attribution error)
What does it look like?
• Group decisions/characteristics = every individual
• Individual decisions/characteristics = the whole group
•
•
•
•
•
Overgeneralizations
Stereotypes
“The ________”
All/none
Always/never
Why do we do it?
● Tribal roots
○ Intergroup bias
● Brains + patterns = 🙂🙂
● Lack of understanding
Assumptions
FEAR
When & where do we see this in our work?
Reflect:
• When has it happened to you?
• When have you been guilty of it?
THINK ABOUT:
Hearing parents
audiologists
the Deaf community
administrators
speech therapists
the staff from ________ school
Deaf parents
How does it interfere with our work?
● Assumptions
● Divisions
● Suspicions
●
●
●
●
Common ground
Shared goals
Child-centered
Family-centered
What can we do about it?
“ Fear can ’t su r vive pr oxim it y.”
- Glen n on Doyle M elt on
What can we do about it?
MORE
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Critical awareness
Sharing our stories
Curiosity
Connecting with colleagues
professionally & personally
Interdisciplinary teams
Interagency collaboration
Professional development
Focus on the child & family
LESS
● Making assumptions
● Overgeneralizations
● Othering & group attribution
language
○ The, those, them, they
○ Be specific!
What will YOUdo to combat bias?
● Steps I will take to confront and reduce bias in my own work:
1.
2.
3.
● Steps I will take to confront and reduce bias in my workplace:
1.
2.
3.
References
Can 'Other' Be Used as a Verb? (2017). Retrieved February 8, 2017, from
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/other-as-a-verb.
Definition of other in English. (2017). Retrieved February 8, 2017, from
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/other.
Glennon Doyle Melton. (2016, August 22). Because you guys, here’s the secret: Fear
Can’t Survive Proximity. [Facebook update]. Retrieved February 8, 2017 from
https://www.facebook.com/glennondoylemelton/posts/10154433565744710.
Harris, J., & White, V. (2013). A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
References
Group attribution error. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2017, from
http://psychologydictionary.org/group-attribution-error.
Murphy, L. (2016, October 11). Linguistics explains why Trump sounds racist when he
says “the” African Americans. Quartz. Retrieved February 8, 2017, from
https://qz.com/806174/second-presidential-debate-linguistics-explains-why-donaldtrump-sounds-racist-when-he-says-the-african-americans.
Norriss, J. (2011, December 28). Othering 101: What is "othering"? Retrieved February 8,
2017, from https://therearenoothers.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/ othering-101-what-isothering.
Image credits
Slide 3: Bridge by Charles Neal, oil on canvas, (b.1951). Credit: SuperStock/ Universal Images Group
Slide 5: Adult king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) trying to locate its chick by the young
penguin's unique vocal fingerprint, Salisbury Plains, South Georgia Island, southern Atlantic
Ocean. Credit: Wayne Lynch / All Canada Photo/Universal Images Group
Slide 7: King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus). Photographed on the island of South Georgia.
Credit: John Beatty/Science Photo Library/Universal Images Group
Slide 8: See slides 5 & 7
Slide 10: Close up of shattered glass vanadlised telephone box in rural location. Cumbria. Credit:
Farm Images/Universal Images Group
Slide 11: Glennon Doyle Melton. (2016, August 22). Because you guys, here’s the secret: Fear Can’t
Survive Proximity. [Facebook update]. Retrieved February 8, 2017 from
https://www.facebook.com/glennondoylemelton/posts/10154433565744710.