Seminar Series: What does Urban Psychology tell us about implicit biases?

Andrew Stier holds a PhD in Integrative Neuroscience from the University of Chicago, a Masters in Psychology and a BA in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Chicago and is currently at the Santa Fe Institute. Andrew’s research in Urban Psychology takes advantage of cities’ regularities to study human behavior and of the inner workings of large-scale complex systems. He uses these models as a starting point to develop a theoretical framework that comprehensively explains emergent human behavior across scales, from individual brain function to entire urban areas.

Abstract
Are people less racist in Santa Fe or Ann Arbor? Are people more or less depressed in larger cities? Are attention spans shorter in busy urban areas? Urban Psychology is the study of how the built environment of cities influences human behavior and causes psychological adaptations at the individual level. In this talk, I will discuss the results of my research extending Urban Scaling Theory models to better understand how cities shape human psychology. I will (1) briefly review how cities systematically influence mental health and cognition, and (2) discuss what I have learned applying urban psychology models to understand implicit biases. I will present mathematical models, backed up by real-world and experimental (i.e., laboratory) data, which demonstrate that people are less depressed, more attentive, and less racist (i.e., have lower implicit racial biases) in larger cities. In addition, I will demonstrate that implicit biases change more slowly in larger cities than smaller cities, despite the fact that biases are lower in larger cities. Finally, I will discuss the implications of this observation for large-scale cultural change and the effectiveness of individual-level bias interventions.