Investigating employees racial bias in the workplace using neurophysiological and behavioral measures

Research in organizational behavior studies suggest that racial discrimination and bias exist in the workplace. Although explicit forms of racism are in decline, new forms of racial discrimination (i.e., implicit and unconscious) continue to compromise the inclusion and diversity in organizations. One of the challenges that HR specialists face is evaluating employees’ unconscious bias. This project offers a multimethod assessment tool to capture explicit and implicit racial discrimination in organizations. Neurophysiological data, including brain activities and facial expressions, are collected while subjects watch a dynamic stimulus to capture their unconscious cognitive and emotional response to various races. This data will be triangulated with the traditional self-perceived measures of racial bias to yield a comprehensive assessment tool of racial discrimination.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mahdi Mirhoseini

Student:

Rana Ali Adeeb

Partner:

StoryBolt Corporation

Discipline:

Other

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Concordia University