Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

The Dual Impact of Mental Illness Labels and Goal Focus on Workplace Appraisal Bias: A Novel Approach to Evaluating Error and Bias

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Yuka Hirayama¹ (hyu1114aaaaa@gmail.com); ¹Senshu University

Mental illness labels have been shown to bias job performance evaluations negatively. However, how such biases are influenced by goal orientation remains unexplored. This study aims to identify conditions that moderate appraisal biases, contributing to interventions that support fair job evaluations for individuals with mental illnesses, helping them thrive in the workplace. Participants will be assigned to one of three labeling conditions (mental illness, physical illness, no label) and one of two goal orientations (promotion focus, prevention focus) to complete a simulated job performance evaluation task. Discrimination in assessment will be measured separately for error and bias, allowing a more nuanced understanding of discriminatory behavior. Unlike previous studies that primarily focus on error as the sole indicator, this study addresses both bias and error to reveal circumstances where discrimination may manifest differently. We hypothesize that evaluators with promotion-focused goals will make fewer errors in job competence assessments, while those with prevention-focused goals will demonstrate lower bias. These findings will provide insights into the complex interplay between labels, stress-induced goal focus, and bias in workplace evaluations.

Topic Area: THINKING: Decision making