Are you REALLY racist?
- Thread starter LucyDuke
- Start date
I was expecting better. 
I took the Judaism one for the heck of it, since it was first on the list. Afterwards, it told me the methodology was to compare speeds when Judaism symbols were grouped with the "good" words to when they were grouped with the "bad" ones. But I got slower and slower throughout that test, just because my brain was fried. This slowdown is typical for me, and happens with any sort of "think quick!" exercise. It was no surprise to me, reading that, that it told me I had a slight preference for other religions, as they had been grouped with the "good" words first.
Are any of the other tests grouped the other way -- does the counter-to-stereotype grouping come first in any of them? If so, I'll take one of them and see if things come out again as I expect; if they do, I'll accept that the test has some validity, but if not, I think its methodology is too flawed to be useful.
I took the Judaism one for the heck of it, since it was first on the list. Afterwards, it told me the methodology was to compare speeds when Judaism symbols were grouped with the "good" words to when they were grouped with the "bad" ones. But I got slower and slower throughout that test, just because my brain was fried. This slowdown is typical for me, and happens with any sort of "think quick!" exercise. It was no surprise to me, reading that, that it told me I had a slight preference for other religions, as they had been grouped with the "good" words first.Are any of the other tests grouped the other way -- does the counter-to-stereotype grouping come first in any of them? If so, I'll take one of them and see if things come out again as I expect; if they do, I'll accept that the test has some validity, but if not, I think its methodology is too flawed to be useful.
Mise
isle of lucy
To be fair, I don't think anyone doubts that the methodology is flawed. It would be foolish to conclude anything either way from the test.
Shadylookin
master debater
Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for European American compared to African American.
though the thread title is flawed(and I feel the test was also). to be a racist I would have to believe that races can be grouped into superior and inferior ones
though the thread title is flawed(and I feel the test was also). to be a racist I would have to believe that races can be grouped into superior and inferior ones
QuoVadisNation
keeping your angel alive
"I have a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American."
I'm not going to argue with the test, but my absolute biggest biggest beef with this test is "what kind of African Americans?" or even "what kind of European Americans?" It honestly.. made my head hurt when all the test did was depend on slips of the finger.. o_o
What people "think" is different from how people act, jeez.
I'm not going to argue with the test, but my absolute biggest biggest beef with this test is "what kind of African Americans?" or even "what kind of European Americans?" It honestly.. made my head hurt when all the test did was depend on slips of the finger.. o_o
What people "think" is different from how people act, jeez.
punkbass2000
Des An artiste
So you prefer hurting Arabs to helping African-Americans?
cubsfan6506
Got u
It said i wasn't racist i posted wrong but i no i have hidden preferences and i really dought the validity of the this kind of testing.
LucyDuke
staring at the clock
Yeah, I realize now that this wasn't terribly well thought out.
The black v African-American thread had me wondering how many people aren't really accurate when they say they have no prejudices. Obviously it's not useful to ask people directly. I remembered this test and thought it would be useful, thought that it would at least give us something relatively objective to work with. I'm not going to defend the test against all criticism, it's certainly far from perfect, but it's something to consider. I do suspect that a lot of people were upset because they didn't like their results, and wouldn't've been quite as critical if it had reassured them of what they believed, but there's no way to prove that, so I won't push the point.
This didn't work out ideally, but I still am curious about the topic. I'm going to try to think it through a little better and come up with something else.
If anyone has any ideas on how to approach the subject, and actually gain some meaningful insight, please let me know. We all know that some people aren't forthright about their prejudices, that some people aren't even aware of their prejudices, but how can that be examined?
The black v African-American thread had me wondering how many people aren't really accurate when they say they have no prejudices. Obviously it's not useful to ask people directly. I remembered this test and thought it would be useful, thought that it would at least give us something relatively objective to work with. I'm not going to defend the test against all criticism, it's certainly far from perfect, but it's something to consider. I do suspect that a lot of people were upset because they didn't like their results, and wouldn't've been quite as critical if it had reassured them of what they believed, but there's no way to prove that, so I won't push the point.
This didn't work out ideally, but I still am curious about the topic. I'm going to try to think it through a little better and come up with something else.
If anyone has any ideas on how to approach the subject, and actually gain some meaningful insight, please let me know. We all know that some people aren't forthright about their prejudices, that some people aren't even aware of their prejudices, but how can that be examined?
EdwardTking
Deity
"You have completed the African American - European American IAT.
Your Result
Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American."
Surprised as I sometimes suspect I am a closet Nazi.
I suppose desire for J Jackson offsets fear M Tyson.
Your Result
Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American."
Surprised as I sometimes suspect I am a closet Nazi.
I suppose desire for J Jackson offsets fear M Tyson.
scipian
Czar
BS. I connected the Good-White statements faster because I had more practice. I was hesitating a lot in the beginning on both sides and it took me time to get into the feel of things. I may be racist. I don't know. But I dislike how this test operated.
BTW-It said that I had a strong automatic favouring of Whites.
Also, I disagree that I favor Whites. I favor anyone who comes across well. The problem is that the majority of Blacks and Hispanics at my school are the poor wanna-be gangsta ones. Those blacks that are clean-cut, intelligent, etc. I actually like much better than equivalent whites. it's just that they're a fairly small minority where I live. And no, I'm not being racist right here. These are provable observations.
BTW-It said that I had a strong automatic favouring of Whites.
Also, I disagree that I favor Whites. I favor anyone who comes across well. The problem is that the majority of Blacks and Hispanics at my school are the poor wanna-be gangsta ones. Those blacks that are clean-cut, intelligent, etc. I actually like much better than equivalent whites. it's just that they're a fairly small minority where I live. And no, I'm not being racist right here. These are provable observations.
Tomoyo
Fate
First of all, I do think I'm racist. I've had bad experiences with mostly-black [my note after re-reading the post: "black" in this part of the post refers to hispanics as well] communities from first to fourth grade (every Friday, after school, I'd be sent to the Mosholu afterschool center, where the vast majority of kids there (98+%
were black kids who went there five days a week, leaving me with not many friends there -- in contrast, on Mondays through Thursdays, I went to the YMCA, where the ratio of black:non-black was about 1:1, which was where my friends were (who were a generous mix of black, hispanic, asian, and white) and is pretty much my fondest memory ever).
However, I'd like to expect that, seven years separated from that, I'd have matured, right? I mean, race never factors into my thinking when I hear about some news item. I could barely understand why the Imus story was so racist, and not just some radio guy using foul language. I feel totally comfortable talking to black people, just like I would talking with any other race. I get extremely annoyed at parents who almost always ask "what kind of person was he/her?" after I finish a story (meaning, "what race was he/she?"), then follow it up with something like, "Oh, that makes sense now, Jew are like that." Right?
Maybe I have racist genes from my parents.
I apparently moderately prefer white people. I do blame it on the fact that the White/Good, Black/Bad match-up came first. I set my brain on the left/right pattern, and couldn't get it out of my head during the second part of the test.
were black kids who went there five days a week, leaving me with not many friends there -- in contrast, on Mondays through Thursdays, I went to the YMCA, where the ratio of black:non-black was about 1:1, which was where my friends were (who were a generous mix of black, hispanic, asian, and white) and is pretty much my fondest memory ever).However, I'd like to expect that, seven years separated from that, I'd have matured, right? I mean, race never factors into my thinking when I hear about some news item. I could barely understand why the Imus story was so racist, and not just some radio guy using foul language. I feel totally comfortable talking to black people, just like I would talking with any other race. I get extremely annoyed at parents who almost always ask "what kind of person was he/her?" after I finish a story (meaning, "what race was he/she?"), then follow it up with something like, "Oh, that makes sense now, Jew are like that." Right?
Maybe I have racist genes from my parents.
I apparently moderately prefer white people.
I do blame it on the fact that the White/Good, Black/Bad match-up came first. I set my brain on the left/right pattern, and couldn't get it out of my head during the second part of the test.
scipian
Czar
Apparently I also have a slight preference to light-skinned people.
Stylesrj
Tabitha SEAL
I tried the test, but the flash thing confused me and I accidentally pressed the wrong keys. When the European guy appeared, I saw him as "Good" and pressed I, but it turns out, he was "evil". How does this prove I am racist or not, if you are not quick enough? I did not want to get my results because of such a thing. How does pressing a few keys to a few images determine your preferences and then when they combine them together, it just gets confusing so you mix up (I thought all the pictures of people would be "Good" and the words would be associated with the title)
In other words, you can't determine my preferences because I got some pictures into the right category and got many wrong due to being confused at the whole title thing. I'll retake the test now and see what my "results" are from the stupid word/picture game
EDIT:
Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for European American compared to African American.
The interpretation is described as 'automatic preference for European American' if you responded faster when European American faces and Good words were classified with the same key than when African American faces and Good words were classified with the same key. Depending on the magnitude of your result, your automatic preference may be described as 'slight', 'moderate', 'strong', or 'little to no preference'. Alternatively, you may have received feedback that 'there were too many errors to determine a result'.
How does that prove I'm racist? If I went around saying bad things about black people, that'd make me racist. Having a preference for white people does not mean I'm racist... does it? In fact, why do they generalise all black people as "African-American". They could be from another country, but why Africa? I think there's racism afoot with their generalisation of black people
In other words, you can't determine my preferences because I got some pictures into the right category and got many wrong due to being confused at the whole title thing. I'll retake the test now and see what my "results" are from the stupid word/picture game
EDIT:
Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for European American compared to African American.
The interpretation is described as 'automatic preference for European American' if you responded faster when European American faces and Good words were classified with the same key than when African American faces and Good words were classified with the same key. Depending on the magnitude of your result, your automatic preference may be described as 'slight', 'moderate', 'strong', or 'little to no preference'. Alternatively, you may have received feedback that 'there were too many errors to determine a result'.
How does that prove I'm racist? If I went around saying bad things about black people, that'd make me racist. Having a preference for white people does not mean I'm racist... does it? In fact, why do they generalise all black people as "African-American". They could be from another country, but why Africa? I think there's racism afoot with their generalisation of black people
Considering that I'm white, and I don't even interact with a large number of blacks on a day to day basis, I think that's kind of weird. I think the test is kind of screwy. But whatever. Last time I think it said I had a slight automatic preference for European Americans....maybe I'm just neutral?
Prince_Imrahil
King
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2006
- Messages
- 820
But its not ignorant 'hatred' or 'racism' in any way, its being against the negative things about said cultures or 'races.' If John hates a Black guy whos just like Bill Gates, thats ignorant racism (unless he just hates 'uber rich people) but clearly this isn't the case. Hatred against hispanic culture perhaps you may mean? (illegals and all) No, if one wants to o wipe it out thats hatred, if one doesn't want it in his country, (i'm not even talking about the negatives here) that's reasonable as one is inclined to value his own culture.
