Implicit Association Test

[REDY]

Of course I'm racist, if we're picking basketball teams I will pick the tall black guys first, even if I have no idea if they've ever played before, I will pick the guy with a German accent for my soccer team without knowing anything about him, if I'm instead putting together a long-distance running team I will pick a Kenyan if there are any, for a kickboxing team I will always pick Thais first if possible, and for a skiing competition Norwegians are at the top of my list. The list goes on and on.

I couldn't really take the test because it asks me which people I prefer more, and without any context I can't pick anything. I don't prefer Europeans to Africans or Africans of Europeans. What does that even mean? People's personalities can vary wildly from butthole to pleasant to whatever, this spans genders and races and everything else, I would vote "I prefer none of these groups" or "I prefer the nice Europeans and Africans and not the butthole ones" but that isn't an option.

I do subconsciously prefer certain groups depending on what the activity is, like I said, but I don't just like one group over the other because I don't like darker skin or whatever. Come on.

You have not made it to test. These are just pre-test questions. Just put 0 preference and equal answers.

 

[warpus]

I'll give it another shot later today

 

[Joecoolyo]

Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Light Skin and Dark Skin.

Not sure how reliable the test actually is. Seems to test one's reflexes more than inherent biases. I suspect those who have better reflexes (especially those practiced on video games) will get more equal scores compared to those without that practice

 

[Ryika]

Yeah, I couldn't get past the first question, as the quiz for some reason seems to assume it's normal to think that you prefer a group of people over another group of people just because of their skin colour, and doesn't even give you a "no preference" option which I would expect most sane people to go with.

As such I'm going to have to assume that the quiz was built by friggin racists



Yeah, exactly, all the options are racist and you have to pick one of them. There is no "I'm not actually racist" option.

Are you sure? I re-started the test a few dozen Times now, the only Question with multiple answers I get is: "Which statement best describes you?"

The middle answer is "I like European Americans and African Americans equally."

Aside from that the only thing that directly asks me about my preferences are the "warm"/"cold"-sliders.

All questions seem to have a "decline to answer"-button.

 

[warpus]

Maybe I'm just blind not only to race but also to words

 

[Borachio]

I couldn't really take the test because it asks me which people I prefer more, and without any context I can't pick anything. I don't prefer Europeans to Africans or Africans of Europeans. What does that even mean? People's personalities can vary wildly from butthole to pleasant to whatever, this spans genders and races and everything else, I would vote "I prefer none of these groups" or "I prefer the nice Europeans and Africans and not the butthole ones" but that isn't an option.

But that's not how the test works.

The test is called "implicit", but basically asks all the time if you hate black people.
I mean... o_O

Seemed to me to be asking half the time if you hate white people as well.

I thought it was a nice set-up. I'm not sure whether it really works at revealing biases. But Harvard seem to be taking it seriously. (I wouldn't know whether that means anything, though. Or whether it reveals some further implicit bias of my own.)

 

[Hygro]

First took the test in 2003:
Moderate preference for white people

Later took the test in 2015:
Slight preference for black people


Your bias can change. Be cool like Hygro.

 

[Ryika]

First took the test in 2003:
Moderate preference for white people

Later took the test in 2015:
Slight preference for black people


Your bias can change. Be cool like Hygro.

So you went from being a bigot to being a bigot - nice!

 

[Hygro]

Moderate to slight, and given population sizes, better for the equality see saw. Win-win with more to go.

Hop aboard.

 

[Hajee]

I did not like this test and seems very inaccurate.

" Why do you think this happens?

One possibility is that the score reflects the order in which you completed the parts, rather than something about implicit preferences. This has been studied."

The game thought me white and good go right then changed that. I had to retrain my brain and round 5,6,7. For that reason I dont find this as a good test

 

[classical_hero]

Apparently there is only black and white with nothing in between.

 

[Mouthwash]

I got weak preference for white people. Yay, not as racist as the rest of you!

 

[onejayhawk]

Are you a racist without knowing it?

Here is the test.

I found it very disturbing.

One obvious thing is a practice effect. You will improve your speed as you repeat the process. The first test will be the slowest. Generally, you will tend to move to the left, because that is where written words begin. In my case, it ran the black/goodword associations first and on the right, which loads both systemic biases against blacks.

J

 

[Borachio]

Sure. But what is the test actually using to measure your bias?

Imo, it's measuring the difference in speed between your reactions to white/black good/bad.

And why would being faster make a change in this difference? (I suppose at faster speeds the difference would be smaller - though I guess they could compensate for that. Otherwise the old and doddery would be significantly more racist than the young and sprightly. Ah. Hang on. Come to think of it, they usually are.)

But I honestly don't know what they're doing.

 

[onejayhawk]

Sure. But what is the test actually using to measure your bias?

Imo, it's measuring the difference in speed between your reactions to white/black good/bad.

And why would being faster make a change in this difference? (I suppose at faster speeds the difference would be smaller - though I guess they could compensate for that. Otherwise the old and doddery would be significantly more racist than the young and sprightly. Ah. Hang on. Come to think of it, they usually are.)

But I honestly don't know what they're doing.

It's a recognition test. In B&W it definitely takes me longer to identify a black than a caucasian. If there was hesitation, it was always because on first glance I thought a picture might be white, but it was not. Orientals would be faster still. Distinguishing ethnic characteristics are more obvious, at least to me.

J

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Everyone can be a lawyer (in theory), it is something that's limited by mainly your mental faculties. I would not presume that a Polish lawyer is any better than an African lawyer or vice versa for that reason.

But if there's a blubber eating competition I am looking at the Eskimo, that guy's going to be on the winning team for sure.

Some lawyers have enormously high success rates before given judges, so there's a little more going on there than just intellectual ability.

Apparently track record rarely matches reputation in terms of who wins cases, though of course law isn't limited to just the courtroom.

 

[Narz]

I have a strong preference for hot people, unless said people are men then I don't give a ****.

 

[warpus]

Some lawyers have enormously high success rates before given judges, so there's a little more going on there than just intellectual ability.

I guess my point was moreso that genetics likely play an insignificant part or no part at all in this case, whereas in long-distance running or other physical activities they usually do.

 

[Bootstoots]

I'm not going to bother taking this again, but I remember what happened the two times I did take it. The first time, I hadn't been primed, and I was easily able to associate black people with good things. I was able to put myself in that mindset well enough to score a slight preference for black people.

The second time I took it, it was about a year later and I'd spent an unusual amount of time thinking and reading about racism before taking the test, which was linked by one of the sites I was reading. Thus primed, I couldn't associate black people with good things anywhere near as quickly, and I scored a strong preference for white people.

If that says anything, it's that "raising awareness" of racism may very easily backfire on a subconscious level. Of course it could just be me, or it could be that implicit association tests don't measure much other than maybe providing an explanation of why the police are more trigger-happy against black people.

 

[Hygro]

If that says anything, it's that "raising awareness" of racism may very easily backfire on a subconscious level.

This is definitely a thing.