Implicit Bias in Patient Care

Describe and/or identify examples of how implicit bias affects medical treatment decisions and interactions with patients.

-African americans and thrombolysis = if docs had the bias, they were less likely to reccomend the surgery compared with whites. More verbal dominance, less respect when bias involved. Patients can detect nonverbal bias and feel less trusting of their doctors.

Explain the two main sources for the content of stereotypes. Identify examples of each.

1. Epidemiology: population medicine. 2. Cultural knowledge: using what you know about group's culture to understand disease better.

Describe the two factors in the stereotype content model. Identify examples of groups that fall into each quadrant of the model and the type of discrimination they face.

1. They are all the same/ Out-group Homogeneity: overgeneralization of stereotypes leads to the perception that all members of a social group are the same on a given dimension. 2. I know what these people are like/ inaccurate + irrelevant stereotypes.

Describe the role that categorization processes play in intergroup bias. Describe the steps by which intergroup bias operates.

1.Categorization is what initiates bias. It involves chunking information into meaningful groups or categories based on attributes of information. 2. Activation of stereotypes 3. Emotions elicited from stereotypes 4. Discrimination

Describe the similarities and differences between schema-based reasoning and stereotyping. Identify the four conditions under which stereotyping and prejudice are most likely to cause discrimination

Schema-based reasoning is the use of information about a group that can be helpful in diagnosing/treating disease. When they cause disparities: 1. When you have little information about a patient except group membership. 2. Physically/ mentally tired. 3. Cognitively overloaded. 4. Working quickly.

Explain the Implicit Associations Test and how it measures implicit bias

The IAT uses a computer to measure the strength of associations between patient groups (e.g., African-Americans, obese people) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad) or stereotypes (e.g., athletic, flabby). The main idea is that people can more quickly respond to a picture or word when categorizing it with closely related items (e.g., obese people and bad) compared to when categorizing it with items that are not related (e.g., thin people and bad).

Describe the difference between explicit and implicit intergroup bias.

Minds operate between two systems: 1. Reflexive system: very fast, requires automatic thinking, non conscious, implicit, requires little effort, no sense of agency. --> where intergroup bias can occur. 2. Reflective system: controlled thinking, effortful, requires motivation, characterized by sense of agency, conscious, explicit.

Define Prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, stigma and stereotype threat.

Prejudice: negative attitude toward a group and its individual members. Caused by + and - emotions. Stereotype: Socially shared beliefs about a group and its individual members. Represent the schemas of information we collect/store about people. Discrimination: Negative behavior directed toward a group and its members. Acts of discrimination can be overt or covert. Racism/ Sexism/ Ageism: discrimination based on racial/gender/age differences. Stigma: how people cope with being the target of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination Stereotype threat: target of discrimination that causes psychological distress and defensiveness.