Professor Bruce Kogut has been invited to join the international scientific advisory board of the newly created Institut Polytechnique de Paris, an agglomeration of many of the top engineering schools in France.
Professor Saskia Sassen was quoted in a piece for BBC News on the controversy surrounding Google sister company Sidewalk Labs, and its plans to partner with the city of Toronto to improve disused land. Professor Sassen discussed the sensitivities of private corporations engaging in urban improvement efforts.
Racial Attention Deficit
Sheen S. Levine1,2 *, Charlotte Reypens1
, and David Stark2,3
1 The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
2 Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
3 University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
* To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected]
Teaser
Americans make poor decisions because they ignore their Black peers — a large
experimental study shows and suggests a remedy.
Abstract
Despite concerted efforts towards equity in organizations and elsewhere, minority members
report that they are often ignored and their contributions undervalued. Against this
backdrop, we conduct a multi-year experimental study to investigate patterns of attention,
using a large, gender-balanced sample of White working-age Americans. The findings
provide causal evidence of a racial attention deficit: Even when in their best interest, White
Americans pay less attention to Black peers. In a baseline study, we assign an incentivized
puzzle to participants and examine their willingness to follow the example of their White and
Black peers. White participants presume that Black peers are less competent — and fail to
learn from their choices. We then test two interventions: Providing information about past
accomplishments reduces the disparity in evaluations of Black peers, but the racial attention
deficit persists. When Whites can witness the accomplishments of Black peers — rather than
being told about them — the racial attention deficit subsides. We suggest that such a deficit
can explain racial gaps documented in science, education, health, and law.
Racial Attention Deficit
Sheen S. Levine1,2 *, Charlotte Reypens1
, and David Stark2,3
1 The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
2 Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
3 University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
* To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected]
Teaser
Americans make poor decisions because they ignore their Black peers — a large
experimental study shows and suggests a remedy.
Abstract
Despite concerted efforts towards equity in organizations and elsewhere, minority members
report that they are often ignored and their contributions undervalued. Against this
backdrop, we conduct a multi-year experimental study to investigate patterns of attention,
using a large, gender-balanced sample of White working-age Americans. The findings
provide causal evidence of a racial attention deficit: Even when in their best interest, White
Americans pay less attention to Black peers. In a baseline study, we assign an incentivized
puzzle to participants and examine their willingness to follow the example of their White and
Black peers. White participants presume that Black peers are less competent — and fail to
learn from their choices. We then test two interventions: Providing information about past
accomplishments reduces the disparity in evaluations of Black peers, but the racial attention
deficit persists. When Whites can witness the accomplishments of Black peers — rather than
being told about them — the racial attention deficit subsides. We suggest that such a deficit
can explain racial gaps documented in science, education, health, and law.
Racial Attention Deficit
Sheen S. Levine1,2 *, Charlotte Reypens1
, and David Stark2,3
1 The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA
2 Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
3 University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
* To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected]
Teaser
Americans make poor decisions because they ignore their Black peers — a large
experimental study shows and suggests a remedy.
Abstract
Despite concerted efforts towards equity in organizations and elsewhere, minority members
report that they are often ignored and their contributions undervalued. Against this
backdrop, we conduct a multi-year experimental study to investigate patterns of attention,
using a large, gender-balanced sample of White working-age Americans. The findings
provide causal evidence of a racial attention deficit: Even when in their best interest, White
Americans pay less attention to Black peers. In a baseline study, we assign an incentivized
puzzle to participants and examine their willingness to follow the example of their White and
Black peers. White participants presume that Black peers are less competent — and fail to
learn from their choices. We then test two interventions: Providing information about past
accomplishments reduces the disparity in evaluations of Black peers, but the racial attention
deficit persists. When Whites can witness the accomplishments of Black peers — rather than
being told about them — the racial attention deficit subsides. We suggest that such a deficit
can explain racial gaps documented in science, education, health, and law.