Implicit Association Test

I took the Implicit Association Test concerning race. In my opinion, this test was rigged in a way. Whether they were rigged “consciously” or “unconsciously,” I do not know. I would have felt much better about it, however, had it been they asked the personal questions after we had already received the results, mainly the questions on race, whether we were right or left-handed, and how we thought the results would turn out. For instance, I am a white female. I don’t necessarily consider myself prejudice or as favoring any specific race, but I figure it could be possible. I mean, I haven’t been in any situations where it was put to the test in the real world, but I can’t imagine that I would be prejudice. I go to a school where there is only one African-American family, and other than their three kids, the only Blacks I know are under the age of 7 and adopted. My first round of the test, I had to push the “I” button with my right hand (my dominant hand) if a European-American person appeared on the screen and the “E” button with my left when an African-American appeared. After that, I had to push the button with my right hand if a positive or good word appeared and left for a negative or bad word appeared. Then, the two tests were combined. I used my right hand for any European-Americans or good words and left for any African-Americans or bad words. It was super easy since I was supposed to be using the same hands as both previous tests and was simply a combination of the two but, other than that, there were no other variables. Then they were switched. I was to use my right hand for European-Americans and bad words and left hand for African-Americans and good words. It was easy to decipher the pictures because it was the same as before, but trying to sort the words was difficult because it was completely switched from both of the previous tests. Of course I was going to be a little slower at it. My results came back as moderately favoring whites over blacks. With that said, I don’t think that they tell much about the unconscious mind and even though my test turned out as it did, it hasn’t changed my mind on my prejudices.

I don’t think that the test showed it, but society probably does have an effect on our prejudices and unconscious mind. I could possibly favor whites, having been barely exposed to African-Americans, even though I know consciously that they are no different. A lot of the times in movies, the drug dealers and robbers are big Black guys and TV is my main exposure to Blacks. I don’t think that we know exactly what goes on in our brains because it is so complex. That means that we aren’t aware of our own attitudes and how they affect our actions. I mean, I have heard some people I really consider negative say that they hate it when people are negative. Another example is when someone who refers to Blacks as scary says that they aren’t prejudice.

Because I don't agree with the test, my views haven't really changed.