Implicit Association Study

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) I chose to take was the Race IAT test. It tests the users ability to associate with images of European Americans (white) and African Americans (black) as well as words that correspond to good and bad. The normative results are that most Americans tend to have some form of an automatic association with European Americans. My results were typical. I felt a little embarrassed at first in reaction to seeing the results of a slight automatic preference to European Americans. I even took the test again to see if I would be better prepared for it and the result remained the same.

Individuals’ mechanical systems for evaluating the world developed over the course of evolutionary history. Such mental operations provide tools for understanding the circumstances, assessing the important concepts, and heartening behavior without having to think or actually thinking at all. These automated preferences are called implicit attitudes.

Implicit bias is bias in one’s judgment or behavior that results from one’s unconscious associations. In order to thoroughly discuss implicit bias, implicit associations must first be examined. Implicit associations refer to one’s unconscious associations between a group and how one feels about said group. For example, a person may subconsciously associate straight people as “normal” and homosexuals as “wrong”. They may have this unconscious association even if they do not express this opinion

Implicit bias plays a significant role in today’s society, whether the members realize it or not. The online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says,” ‘Implicit bias’ is a term of art referring to a relatively unconscious and relatively automatic features of prejudiced judgement and social behavior” (Brownstein 2015). Implicit biases are often based on stereotypes. Stereotypes, as defined by OpenStax, are “oversimplified ideas about groups of people” (OpenStax College 2015:248). Implicit biases can be problematic for many reasons. One way implicit biases are troublesome is due to the fact that it is unconscious, so it is usually out of a person’s control. People are often unaware of their own and how they use it. A very common way implicit biases are seen in society is through discrimination. Discrimination is defined as “prejudiced action against a group of people” (OpenStax College 2015:248). If a man and a woman are considered as potentials for being hired, the employer may have an implicit bias either towards or against men or women influencing them to hire one over the other based on their gender. This exemplifies a modern concern of gender discrimination as well. Implicit biases can come in many forms from gender, race, weight, sexuality, and many more. These factors can influence an individual’s treatment of others if they have significant bias. In society, these implicit biases can negatively influence minority and other groups and lead to inequality.

It was with some trepidation that I awaited my score for the Presidential Implicit Association Test (IAT). Was it possible that I am subconsciously racist? Despite the fact that I genuinely don’t look at Barack Obama any differently because he is black; the nature of this test forces your mind and body to work so quickly in synch that it forces a high level of veracity. Luckily in both of my IAT results my subconscious did not betray me, but it did require a certain amount of concentration at times, which might make a statement in and of itself.

discusses the results of a Implicit Association Test which measures a persons automatic association between mental representation of objects in the memory. Nearly 88 percent of the white race who took the Implicit Association Test show inherent racial bias. They have found when white people carry a implicit racial bias that they subconsciously prefer white people over black people in areas such as employment and academic. People don't even realize that they have a subconscious biases against a certain race. Which can affect how they interact with them. America still has a problem with race, The Civil War ended many years ago but the war between races still exist . Once we acknowledge the truth behind inherent racial bias we can move towards

My results for the Race IAT assessment were that I had no automatic preference between black and white people. 18% of people scored the same result as me. I do agree with my results because I did not think I was racist before the test so I was hoping I would get this result. The test measured whether I carried implicit racism or not by measuring the strength of association between the concept and evaluations. In this case, the concept was european and african American or black people and white people and the evaluation was good or bad. I think that it is a valid way to measure whether someone is racist but if you are trying to measure if someone is racist they should try this test and another test so the person can get

Colorblind ideology is when white people say they think that racism and discrimination to African Americans is behind us. Eduardo Bonilla Silva discusses colorblind ideology in detail with four central frames that guides it. This is based off the belief that the civil rights movement removed all racial comments and we are now moved to success that the color of our skin does matter anymore.

The Implicit Association Test or IAT is a valuable tool that those in the criminal justice system use; often times during the hiring process candidates will be required to complete the IAT so that hiring officials can see if they have any unconscious bias. The IAT is still relatively new in terms of psychological research only being created in the 1990’s by psychologist Anthony Greenwald (Kaufman, 2011). Individuals who take the race portion of the test are shown pictures of Caucasian and African-American males or females, then are given positive or negative words that they associate with each race as fast as possible. After taking the test it measures the unconscious bias that everyone has deep down (Kaufman, 2011).

Research centers for the study of racial bias have developed experimental studies to help understand how race can, for instance, influence a police officer to shoot an unarmed suspect. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is one of the most commonly used tests for this study. IAT was developed by three scientists, Tony Greenwald (University of Washington), Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University), and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia) (“ProjectImplicit”). Their “Project Implicit” program was designed to identify our societal biases through the association of faces (black and white) with words (good and bad). This program uses a scoring algorithm that can identify those who are faking the test with approximately 75% accuracy (Cvencek et al.).

What is racism? The definition given by Merriam Webster’s dictionary is, “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. From the definition alone we can see that racism and prejudice are horrible and incorrect errors in a person’s thinking that no one would, or should, be proud to admit to having such feelings. Is it true though, that race or prejudicial feelings do not come into consideration at all to such people who profess they truly do not bias towards those of another race or group? A person may be showing signs of modern racism in which they outwardly show and act as if they are an unprejudiced person, while inwardly

The first test I took was the Race IAT. I had to classify words or pictures of people in groups. The website made it clear that going fast was important. This IAT showed pictures showed faces and the categories were European American and African American. The next round was words, and the categories were Good and Bad. The round after that combined the pictures and words. On the left there was European American and the word Bad on the right was African American and Bad. That was all the test was, classifying the words and pictures. Since it was my first time taking this test I thought there was going to be something related to stereotypes and questions asking my opinion. I was surprised when I finished. The categories switched sides and Bad was then paired with European American and Good with African American. My result was that I had a moderate automatic preference for African American compared to European Americans. I was surprised about this response. Growing up I went to all white schools, did not have numerous relationships with African Americans. Since college that has changed but I believed subconsciously I would have a preference to European Americans. I do not understand how sorting the pictures and words into categories would determine a preference. But now that I am aware hopefully I can catch myself in situations of preferring Africans Americans.

It reinforces the effects of racially discriminatory policies that were removed post-civil rights. Identifying an individual as a minority is not inherently racist but ignoring the effects of institutionalized racism is. Despite the fact that race is not rooted in biology, there are manifestations of various levels of attainment that map onto race. This is because of the historical context that needs to be considered, that it was once the belief that biology dictated inferiority and superiority. Institutions were built around those beliefs, power dynamics developed in likeness. Colorblindness then ignores this history, and ignores the centuries of disadvantage non-whites today carry with them. There is a void in terms of wealth and ability to climb the social ladder, and practicing colorblindness turns a blind eye to this. It only reinforces white privilege by not acknowledging the disadvantage of minorities, and by not employing practices to help counteract the centuries of institutionalized racism. Colorblindness is not equality in that sense, it does not acknowledge that social construction had institutionalized differences in racial attainment. It then ignores the inherent inequality of the system, which is essentially

The Implicit Association Test was established by Anthony Grenwald, Mahzarin Banaji, and Brian Nosek. This test assesses your attitude or views towards a certain subject, it is your automatic response on an unconscious level. The Test results you recieve may be the complete opposite of your conscious beliefs and views. You have two levels of thinking your conscious and unconscious level, in your conscious level you have your beliefs and values that control our behavior deliberately, then your unconscious level which is our immediate automatic response to something. The

The implicit association test was a very interesting experience with fascinating questions that I have never encounter before. This was my first time taking an implicit association test and also my first time hearing about it. In the beginning I was wandering how could this test possibly depict if I preferred another race over the other. The process of the test was very quick, easy, and informative. The beginning of the test asked for general information of demographics like ethnicity, female or male, and etc. The test consisted of pictures of African American and European American faces, and words that were either bad or good associating with the faces. So, I had to respond quickly to each statement by pressing the appropriate keys that were