The Project Implicit Social Attitudes test I completed for this discussion was about sexuality and comparing the correlation between good and bad words with straight and gay people/couples. It was fascinating to witness my own implicit biases within the results, especially because I really do consider myself to not obviously have any prominent underlying biases. Although as is depicted in the “Understanding Implicit Bias” article form Ohio University, these biases are pervasive, and do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs.

Thinking back to how social media has become such a prominent tool and resource for potential hires, the presence of our own underlying biases can truly pose more of an issue. Perhaps a social media post or picture triggers an unknow underlying bias for the interviewer, this could lead to some unfair or unknowing judgment of the person that wouldn’t traditionally happen in an initially first time interview.

The concept of validity then can be called into question within an interview between someone who has underlying biases towards someone due to their social media presence. Perhaps questions are being asked become off topic or pervasive due to what was seen on social media. Validity refers to the extent to which a performance measure assesses what it’s supposed to measure; with prior knowledge or views of something on ones personal social media page this could disrupt the line of questions or have the interviewer asking inappropriate questions or making unacceptable comments due to the prior knowledge. This in turn would affect the individuals ability to truly be considered for the job.

https://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/article/understanding-implicit-bias

Week 5 lectures/notes