Introducing Perception Insights!
From the televised confirmation spectacle of a historic, and historically qualified, new Supreme Court Justice, to the ways gender identities are once again being weaponized for political gain – dignity, respect, and belonging for people across lines of identity has never felt more important, or elusive.
Challenges to creating fairness in the contexts and institutions that shape our lives - schools, health care, the courts, and workplaces - can feel intractable, even when most people share the same or similar values and aspirations.
That feeling of one step forward, two steps back? We feel it too. The team of researchers, analysts and strategists at Perception Institute believes that insights and empirical evidence from the “mind sciences” can offer us both a compelling explanation for why this work is hard - and a way forward.
That’s why we’re launching Perception Insights - a new newsletter dedicated to sharing cutting edge research and highly actionable updates to better understand how implicit bias works - and how we can move beyond it:
The Perception team has been busy in these tumultuous times. Here are a few breakthroughs we wanted to share - research that’s recently been translated into transformative policy, and training curricula across the country:
Our Training in NY Courts: After years of working with judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system, our team has developed an introductory online training, Justice for All: Dignity and Respect in the New York Unified Court System, that will be mandatory for over 18,000 members of New York’s court system. The first module rolls out this May!
Helping New York juries deliberate better. In addition to training Court staff, we crafted a new video for jurors - Fairness for Juries - laying out in layman's terms some of the ways bias colors our experiences and expectations in the courtroom. The video is now being seen by every prospective juror in New York State! Watch it here now:
New Research on scaling “wise intervention” in parole. A new study has been released on work with probation and parole officers (PPO), targeting fixed mindsets, and exploring implicit biases in how outgroup behaviors are perceived amongst adults on probation or parole (APP). Our findings provide new evidence that relationships among officers and parolees are critical to combating recidivism rates – and that a targeted focus on psychological processes in PPOs can lead to long-term reductions in violations and recidivism from probation and parole.
This is just a preview of some of the insights and anti-bias breakthroughs we’re working on, and that we’ll be sharing in the coming months with our new newsletter. We hope you’ll join us in this journey!
Best regards,