MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Why Putting On Blinders Can Help Us See More Clearly

Would you decide which job candidates to interview based on their names — or which ventures to fund based on entrepreneurs’ gender or physical attractiveness? Few managers would admit doing so, even to themselves. But research shows that decision makers are in fact susceptible to exactly this type of bias. Identical resumes sent in response to job postings are less likely to generate a callback for an interview if the name at the top suggests the candidate is Black.1 And female entrepreneurs face harsher questions from potential investors and are less likely to have their ideas funded than men (particularly attractive men)

Generally, this body of research demonstrates that the fairness of social evaluations — such as whom to hire, invest in, or promote — can be adversely affected by irrelevant and seemingly innocuous attributes, like name or appearance, because of the biases they evoke. How might these judgments be made more equitably? One way to reduce the potential for bias and increase objectivity is to adopt a decision-making strategy called blinding — that is, limiting the information that can be considered in an evaluation. The logic is straightforward: An evaluator cannot be biased by irrelevant information about a target of evaluation (for instance, a job candidate’s name) if that information is hidden from view. It is for this reason that Justice is typically depicted wearing a blindfold: The blindfold ensures the impartiality of her decision-making.

About the Author

Sean Fath is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School.

Richard P. Larrick is the Hanes Corporation Foundation Professor of Business Administration at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Jack B. Soll is a professor of management and organizations at Fuqua.

Susan Zhu is an assistant professor of management at the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky.

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