LIN 365 (40420); CGS 365 (29895); HDO 365 (30280) Class meetings: MWF 1-1:50pm Instructor: Dr. David Beaver, Bio: I’m a Professor of Linguistics, with affiliations in Philosophy and Human Dimensions of Organization. I teach on linguistic meaning and cognitive science, as well as HDO courses on , problem solving and communication. Current research (see shorturl.at/fqAHL) includes a book on the Politics of Language, a project on miscommunication, and another on what makes work meaningful. Email: [email protected] Webpage: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/linguistics/faculty/dib97 Office: RLP 4.708

Course description An interdisciplinary introduction to bias in psychology, political science, business, statistics, research design, philosophy and linguistics. In psychology, we will study cognitive theories of biased judgment and decision making, as well as work on theories of persuasion, effects of group membership, and implicit bias. We will introduce ideas from the study of meaning in linguistics and philosophy of language to understand how some of these effects work, e.g. the notion of framing, and also to study the philosophical question of what it means to be neutral or biased. We will then apply these ideas in the business and political arena, looking at how groups of people behave as groups, and examining both how those groups can be manipulated intentionally, and how bias can creep into what is supposed to be an objective process.

We will begin entirely synchronously, and transition to having 1 class per week asynchronous. Please be present and turn video ON for synchronous classes, in order to gain maximum points for engagement. If your situation makes this impossible, request permission to leave video off.

Learning Objectives 1. Meaning of bias in different fields 2. Significance of bias in the workplace 3. Identification of bias in people, processes, systems and organizations 4. Explain helpfully and non-confrontationally 5. Identify your own potential biases 6. When and how biases can be countered Topics by area

Cognitive bias Statistical bias Bias in communication anchoring ignoring statistical information linguistic intergroup bias loss aversion oversensitivity to small effects presupposed practices base-rate neglect presupposition and memory effects the law of small numbers false dichotomies overconfidence type 1 & type 2 error biases Framing in politics the sunk-cost fallacy ignoring statistical information dialect bias narrow framing silencing manipulative language the propaganda & political persuasion the planning fallacy priming and implicit bias endowment effect racial/gender bias

Topics and readings by week

Week Planned Topic Reading Due 1 Jan 20-22 Introduction to Bias, Mindset 2 Jan 25-29 Bias in problem solving; 2 systems Kahneman Intro, §1: p. 1-30 3 Feb 1-5 Perceptual bias; attention Kah. §2-5: pp.31-70 4 Feb 8-12 Speech and language bias; substitution Kah. §6-10: pp.71-118 Feb 13 Quiz 1 5 Feb 15-19 Language, concepts and rules; availability Kah. §11-14: pp.119-155 6 Feb 22-26 Probability and probability bias Kah. §15-18: pp.156-195 7 Mar 1-5 Utility; intuition Kah. §19-23 , p. 199-244 8 Mar 8-12 Decision weights; prospect theory Kah. §23-27, p.245-299 Mar 13 Quiz 2 SPRING BREAK 9 Mar 22-26 Cultural variation; fourfold pattern Kah. §28- 33, pp. 300-362 10 Mar 29-Apr Experience and memory Kah. §34-Conc., pp. 363-418 2 11 Apr 5-9 Memory and language Loftus et al. 12 Apr 12-16 Implicit Bias, Race & Gender Jolls & Sunstein Apr 16 Quiz 3 13 Apr 19-23 Loaded language Hauser & Schwarz 14 Apr 26-30 Framing and Propaganda Stanley, de Bruijn 15 May 4-8 Workplace Diversity; Course Review Thomas & Ely May 8-11 Final

Evaluation Category % of total grade Dates Quizzes 15% 2/12, 3/12, 4/16 Bias files 30% (best 10 of 12 max) weekly until complete Q&A discussion posts 20% weekly Presentation 5% Weeks 8-14 Final 20% 5/11-5/13 Engagement/interaction 10% All the time

Course textbook Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan, 2011. (List price currently $8.99)

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