Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Implicit Association Test

I've been reading a bit in my Exploring Social Psychology book by David Myers the past days. After reading each Module, sort of like a short chapter, there are exercises we can do on a cd. I took the Implicit Attitudes Test that may show whether I really feel about things the way I think I feel about them, or whether I, for example, prefer whites to blacks, men to women, while claiming otherwise.

  • The first test told me this:

    Results: Slight preference for African American

    Along with 6% of the more than one million people who have taken this test (this is a real test used for psychological research), I have a slight automatic preference for black people.

    If your test results showed a preference for a certain
    group, you may have a hidden, or unconscious, bias
    in favor of that group. The results of more than one
    million tests suggest that most people have unconscious
    biases. For example, nearly two out of three white
    Americans show a moderate or strong bias toward,
    or preference for, whites, as do nearly half of all black
    Americans.


  • The second test then told me this:

    Results: Moderate association between Male and Career

    The same as 15% of the others who took this test. I'm not surprised. A little disappointed maybe, but not surprised.

    The gender IAT often reveals an automatic, or
    unconscious, association of female with family and male
    with career. These associations are consistent with
    traditional gender stereotypes that a woman's place is in
    the home rather than the workplace (and vice-versa for men).


So 6% and 15%... I'm not like most people.
Then again, I'm not American.

Wanna see how you do? Understandingprejudice.org
I'd do it if I were you.

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