Why do I like people like me? (Q2447072)

A stochastic model is proposed for the process of evaluating candidates for some job. The total quality of a candidate is described as a sum of abilities/skills levels in different fields. These skill levels are modelled by independent Gaussian r.v.s. The evaluator observes the skills levels of a candidate with some additive errors (also Gaussian) and estimate the total quality by the Bayesian prediction. The prior distribution for the predictor depends on the skill levels of the evaluator: the higher is the level, the smaller is the variance of the prior. The authors discuss a bias which arises is such estimation process and leads to similar-to-me-in-skills effect which favors candidates who excel in the same fields as the evaluator. They show that such bias could lead to discrimination of candidates from some social groups. A correction of the bias can be made in non-blind evaluation processes, but not in blind ones.