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Cryss Brunner
Educational Policy and Administration
“As a participant,
I found the experience tremendously unsettling, unprecedentedly
liberating, and undeniably enlightening," says
graduate student, Christen Opsal.
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Are
you unbiased? Treat all people equally? A fair leader? A team player?
You might be surprised.
Cryss Brunner, associate professor of educational policy and administration,
has created an innovative communication method that gives students
an unprecedented view of how their perceptions of their own power
and character can differ from the way they present themselves. Ultimately
Brunner wants to know if our identity (gender, race, physical characteristics,
experiences) gets in the way of interpersonal understanding, true
dialogue, and “justice-oriented” interaction.
“Identity shapes both our actual communication and our perception
of communication in ways that create obstacles to equitable practices
and experiences for all learners and communities,” Brunner explains.
“Identity and the power associated with it can drown out alternative
voices or marginalize all but mainstream authority, which contributes
to inequity and diminished social justice.” Often leaders who practice
this kind of autocratic interaction are unaware of imposing their
power on others, Brunner says.
Brunner has spent the last decade studying women leaders and power
within school administration. In 2002 she partnered with the Digital
Media Center at the University of Minnesota to create Experiential
Simulations (ES), an online environment similar to a chat room where
participants' true identities are masked to others in the group.
Each participant is given a “modified persona”—an assigned gender,
racial, class, and positional identity unlike their own. They are
instructed to refrain from revealing personal details to one another.
When participants log in, each sees his or her own image, while
their classmates see images and video that represent the assigned
persona. The participants are unaware of this, however, and assume
that the others are seeing them as they actually are.
The vision is easy to catch: The most qualified researchers, policy-makers,
communicators, and citizens coming together in a living laboratory
to bridge the gaps between environmental problems, solutions, implementation,
and adoption.
In this context, students work together in situations that illustrate
how their perception of others' identities shapes their own participation
in decision making. Offline, the students answer reflective questions
concerning their assumptions about power and stereotypes, their
communication, and their decision-making practices. The ES experience
brings to the foreground what is usually in the background of real-world
interaction: who each student is in relation to their membership
in privileged or marginalized groups, the assumptions about those
groups, and the characteristics that bias their interactions.
What the research shows
The reactions from students in the project have been visceral and
profound. One woman who thought that people didn't listen to her
because she is African American realized that her own communication
approach was preventing her from being heard. Several participants
were startled to learn that their behavior was often bigoted. Others
who thought they were inclusive discovered they were bullies. Several
continue to report that they draw on the ES experience “every day”
as they communicate, listen, and lead.
For another group of students, the exercise was a great equalizer.
Speakers of languages other than English reported that they had
never before been able to participate in class discussions in such
a meaningful way, an experience that was echoed by students who
categorize themselves as shy and by those with physical disabilities.
The Experiential Simulations process has been patented and copyrighted.
Brunner and colleagues are in the process of refining the ES model
as software that can be used as a leadership development tool.
What others say about this research
Michael Miller, assistant professor of teacher education at the
University of Wisconsin-River Falls, sees promise for Brunner's
work in fostering interpersonal understanding. “One powerful use
might be an Experiential Simulation in which you modify the personas
of inner-city students to become stereotypically suburban students
and suburban students with stereotypically inner-city identities
and have them collaborate on a task,” Miller says. “This would provide
students a powerful look at how they think differs from how they
act and an opening for meaningful discussions about perceptions
of the ‘other.'
“In the past few years, social networking via online vehicles such
as MySpace and Friendster have illustrated very real components
of social influence generally, and power and identity specifically,
” Miller continues. "Brunner's work on power and identity through
experiential simulations may prove to have farther reaching implications
given the way human communication continues to so rapidly morph."
Christen Opsal, a graduate student in educational policy and administration,
notes, “As a participant, I found the experience tremendously unsettling,
unprecedentedly liberating, and undeniably enlightening.
“Of the many possible applications, ” she continues, “ I see value
in using Experiential Simulations during a hiring process, as a
way to identify candidates who are truly competent and collaborative,
and also as a way to reduce bias in selection processes. ”
Why this research matters
Experiential Simulations give participants a rare opportunity to
take a hard look at their behavior and to experience a walk in someone
else's shoes. The process also allows them an opportunity for meaningful
reflection about how their self-image may differ from how they present
themselves.
On a broader scale, the technology could have application in any
situation where people work together in groups—from schools, to
communities, to businesses, to government. “Consider what the United
Nations might be able to accomplish if participants were stripped
of the power associated with the countries they represent,” says
Brunner. “Would the world be a more just place if decisions were
made from such a level playing field?”
Reprinted with permission from the January 2007 edition of Research
Works, a publication of the College of Education and Human
Development.
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