Your subconscious

[Flatlander]

Our subconscious may contain opinions that we may consciously disagree with. I discovered this today, when I took an Implicit Association Test, administered online by researchers at Harvard.

I encourage everyone to take the race IAT. I did, and am quite disappointed in the results.

Should this spark discussion, so be it. If not, that's fine too.

Take the test here: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Thank you to James DeLamar for the link to beliefnet in another thread here, where I found this link. :asian:

 

[RandomPhantom700]

"Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for White relative to Black"

I could discuss one or two issues I had, but I worry that might screw things up for those who have yet to take the test. I'll get on to a few of the other IATs in the meantime.

 

[SenseiBear]

Your data suggest little or no automatic preference for Black relative to White

Now I found this interesting, because to be honest, I expected to have a slight preference for white - only because I am white, and live in a pretty white part of the country - So I haven't had the opportunity to get to know very many black people.

 

[RandomPhantom700]

The setup of the test seemed like one that you could take again without the second being messed up, so I took the race one again. This time it says the bias is only slight, rather than moderate.

Aside from that being from the second rather than first run, it was also the 4th time I'd taken an IAT test rather than the 1st, and also was at 9:45 in the morning, after some sleep, rather than at 3 AM.

Any pseudo or full psychologists on here able to say whether the second results would be valid?

 

[raedyn]

from their FAQ page.

What does it mean if I get a test result that I don't believe describes me or, if I take the same test twice, I get different results each time.
Answer: You may be giving the test more credit than it deserves! The web versions of these tests are necessarily less accurate than our laboratory versions (and we don't regard the lab versions as perfectly accurate). Normally, outcomes will change at least slightly from one taking to another. You may discover this if you repeat any of the tests. We encourage repeating any test for which the outcome surprises you. If the outcome repeats, the result is definitely more trustworthy than is the first result alone. If the outcome varies, it is best to average the different results. However, if the outcome varies widely from one taking to another (something that is unusual) we suggest that you just regard the set of results as 'inconclusive'.

 

[Tgace]

"Your data suggest little or no automatic racial association with Weapons or Harmless Objects"

Which is good considering my job.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Being a conscious being, you are conscious of your sub-conscious.

Now the question is your sub-conscious, conscious of the conscious mind?

 

[michaeledward]

I had a STRONG AUTOMATIC preference for White Americans.

I am a bit surprised, but the information warned of that. It didn't seem to me that my reaction times were all that different, but, they are the ones putting the study together.

Mike

 

[Rich Parsons]

Hmmmmm,

"Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Black relative to White"

 

[shesulsa]

The quiz I took was for the presidental candidates - I had a slight automatic preference for John Kerry.

Where is the racial one?

 

[bignick]

I associate weapons with European Americans more than African Americans

 

[Flatlander]

My test result claimed that I have a strong preference for whites over blacks. I find this to be extremely disturbing, enough so that I almost don't want to admit it publically. I do so for honesty, and for the discussion at hand.

What really bothers me about this is that, consciously, I really believe that I have no preference. It's distressing to me that I may not be being honest with myself.

So, if someone can come up with a way to discredit the validity of this test, I would appreciate that. :asian:

 

[RandomPhantom700]

I'm still a little leary of the setup, in that the switch in what side good and bad were on half-way through had me glancing a few times just to see where they were. If I decided to go quickly as instructed, I'd sometimes accidentally click good for the word anguish. Though I'm no psychologist, it might have been better if they'd kept good and bad on the same sides of the screen and only alternated the races.

That's pretty much all I can think of. But really, if you have implied or subconscious bias, that doesn't make you a racist (or sexist, or ageist, or whatever other forms os discrimination they were testing for). As the FAQ section discussed, you can affect your behavior such that the implied associations dont affect how you act. That's what I usually do.

 

[MisterMike]

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for European American relative to African American

Interesting...

 

[bignick]

I'm still a little leary of the setup, in that the switch in what side good and bad were on half-way through had me glancing a few times just to see where they were. If I decided to go quickly as instructed, I'd sometimes accidentally click good for the word anguish. Though I'm no psychologist, it might have been better if they'd kept good and bad on the same sides of the screen and only alternated the races.

Not a psychologist, but I think was that was the point...otherwise you could just memorize it and skew the results how ever you wanted. Again, internet tests need to be taken with a large chunk of salt.

 

[Ceicei]

Your data suggest little or no automatic preference for White relative to Black


Doesn't surprise me... I had dated several guys of various racial background.

I wouldn't put much stock in this kind of test. This test does not accurately gauge feelings. It basically tests the reflexes of the fingers associated with how our minds are trained to do (by conditioning) by the first two batches of the test (pictures and words).

- Ceicei

 

[RandomPhantom700]

I wouldn't put much stock in this kind of test. This test does not accurately gauge feelings. It basically tests the reflexes of the fingers associated with how our minds are trained to do (by conditioning) by the first two batches of the test (pictures and words).

- Ceicei

I thought about that possibility, but then I realized that's what the middle batch was for. After the first black/white, good/bad phase, the test presents a series of only black/white, and only good/bad categorization, with them swiching places. That's essentially to "reorient" our clicker fingers. So I belive the experimenters addressed that problem.

That being said, I still have a few doubts about the experimental setup itself as well. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

 

[punisher73]

I took time and had to recheck some things also because half way through the thing I was would just brainfart and have to look again.

I tried to redo it and it was on wisdom vs. innocence...there were alot of the words that they kept on giving me a red x on that could have fit in either category in my opinion based on how I viewed wisdom. Kind of a weird test I thought. The first one I took was Mother Theresa vs. Princess Diana

 

[Xequat]

I couldn't get it to work on my stupid computer. Grrrr! Anyway, prejudice/stereotypes are not inherently bad. For example, I remember from my psych class that "they" did a study somewhere that measured the subjects' likelihood to have a prejudice at different times of day. If a person was a night person, then they were more likely to employ stereotypes and automatic responses during the morning when they're not as sharp.

Stereotypes are just thoughts...it's what we do with and about those thoughts that matters. I'll be honest...when I see a black person in the morning wearing a basketball jersey and a crooked ball cap, I'll probably be more likely to think a few things like he's probably a Democrat, might be trouble, probably likes rap music, etc. There's really nothing I can do about that...I'm not proud of it because I don't even know the guy, but what matters is that I'll still say hello and treat him as I would anyone else in that situation and that's what matters. I'm not going to try to get the first strike in because he's surely going to try to mug me or run screaming or call the cops because I don't feel safe or brandish my Guns N' Roses concert T-shirt because I don't like rap or even judge him on a good vs evil, right vs. wrong type of scale. So if you showed a preference for one race over the other, then that's fine. It's natural and it's kind of an efficient way of thinking - inductive reasoning. Just don't discriminate.