Project Implicit Association Study

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

For this assignment, I chose the Race Bias Implicit Association Test. I was surprised because I have taken this same assessment for another class years ago and my results changed. The first time I took the test, I received a result that did show a slightly biased preference for European American’s over African Americans. However, this time, I took my time to read and select the answer that I thought was best. However, this time around, the data suggested no automatic preference between African Americans and European Americans. I was honestly shocked at these results after conditioning myself to believe that slight implicit bias was normal after reading my results on my first attempt a few semesters back. The first time I took this test, I was devastated by the thought of even the slightest bit of bias as I’ve always been a bit of a social justice warrior when it comes to race issues. Initially I attributed the results to poorly worded questions and then attempted to rationalize by

For The Implicit Association Task (IAT) assignment, I began with the test titled, Weight ('Fat - Thin' IAT). This IAT requires that ability to distinguish people who are obese and people who are thin. It often reveals an automatic preference for thin people relative to fat people. This test included associated “good” and “bad” words, such as, joyful and ugly to a silhouette sized person that was either thin or obese. There are some questions about beliefs, attitudes, and opinions, and some standard demographic questions.

For the Race Implicit Bias Test, my results were that I have a moderate automatic preference for White people over Black people. When receiving those results, they really didn’t surprise me. I was adopted by white parents when I was a baby and all my relatives, except my brother, are also white. Growing up with white parents and an all-white extended family, I never really had opportunities to associate with black adults. I did have black and white friends when I was little, but when your little you don’t think about your friend’s race or identify them as a race. The reason I have a moderate automatic preference for White people over Black people is probably because with having an all-white family

The proposed study aims to investigate the relationship between implicit prejudices and their effect on perception and judgment of others. Individuals generally hold specific prejudices towards their ingroups and outgroups and these can be deliberately or subconsciously expressed through explicit or implicit attitudes, respectively. Learning more about the relationship between the subconscious prejudicial attitudes people hold and how these affect perceptions of others is important if a better understanding of intergroup relations is to be made. More specifically, and relevant to the study at hand, investigating implicit prejudices White individuals have and how these affect their

Previous studies have found that implicit and explicit measures of attitudes are often uncorrelated. Implicit measures consistently show higher levels of negative bias towards fat people than explicit measures and seem to be more accurate predictors of biased behavior (Wang

People tend to think that they don’t have any biases against minority groups. However, unbeknownst to them, research has shown that many people actually do harbor negative biases, in the form of automatic associations. In a study performed by B. Keith Payne, at the University of North Carolina, he tested to see whether participants have an unintended racial bias towards African-Americans. To test this, he used an Implicit Association Test (IAT). This test uses a matching method to find any hidden biases in the test taker. He found that participants indeed showed racial bias towards African-Americans, even though it was completely unintended (Payne). Last week, we wanted to see whether we have a bias for

Human beings are responsible for all of the moral choices that they make, and for any consequences that may occur as a result of these choices. The nature of the term “implicit bias” suggests the existence of unconscious biases which are based on negative stereotypes related to race, gender, sex, religion etc. When trying to understand the moral implications of implicit bias, conflicts arise because people generally are not held responsible for actions beyond their control. In the journal article entitled Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life, the authors describe various examples of implicit bias such as when a white woman clutches her purse as a black man approaches, or when a person of color is mistaken for a service worker. In both

No matter who you are or what part of the world you are from implicit bias are a constant issue in society. These tendencies typically stem from structural injustice, implicit bias, and personal discretion. Structural injustice is when a category of people are associated with an insufficient status when comparing to other groups of people engaging in the same actions. Implicit bias are stances and stereotypes that affect our comprehension, actions and decisions held by our unconscious manner. These bias are involuntarily and are done without individuals awareness or intentional control. Everyone is exposed to these biases at a young age through the media, parents, and teachers. Each individual holds possession of implicit bias whether they

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was done again in relation to race by Project Implicit or PI which supports a collaborative network of researchers interested in basic and applied research concerning implicit social cognition and hosts data collection for many online research projects worldwide, in addition to providing demonstration IATs, such as the Race IAT, for racial implicit biases for educational uses (Xu, et. al.). This test was taken online by 2 million people nationally and researchers suggest they are more liberal and younger demographic, indicating that if the older and more right wing Americans took the test at higher rates the results would differ. “The Project Implicit test takers trend younger than average, as well as towards liberal political beliefs and higher levels of education. But other research has suggested that older Americans past the age of 65, in particular, tend to have higher IAT (D) scores” (Xu). For unknown reasons the rate of racial bias was the highest in the southeast and eastern portion of the country, which could possibly come from the historical racial issues that occurred in these areas for decades, such as civil war history. The bottom line is that research suggests that white Americans including police officers have a high possibility of subconscious negative feelings towards minorities supported by a chart from The Reverse Racism Effect article by Lois James depicting the negative connotations felt by 96% of white participants in the IAT

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.

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.

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.).

From the Harvard Project Implicit, I did the Age IAT and Weight IAT questionnaire. By doing the Age IAT, I was able to distinguish old faces from the young faces. There were different sections. There were words that were related to happy or bad feelings, or a picture of a young or old person. My results pointed out that I moderately prefer young people than old. Overall, it was an interesting test. According to the Weight IAT test, I have a slight preference for heavier people than thinner people. I was surprise by the result because I was expecting a neutral result. However, the results make sense when I think about the fact that my some members of my family are overweight. The IAT made me think about my personal experience. It was a great exercise.

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.