Implicit Association Test

AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
edited May 2007 in A Moving Train
This is wicked!

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

It is well known that people don't always 'speak their minds', and it is suspected that people don't always 'know their minds'. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology.

This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short.

In addition, this site contains various related information. The value of this information may be greatest if you try at least one test first...
I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Oh btw, I put this on the MT because it relates to biases and it should prove rather interesting to general debate.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Thin People compared to Fat People.

    Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Canada compared to the United States.

    Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Old and Young.

    Your data suggest little or no association between Female and Male with Science and Liberal Arts.

    Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for White People compared to Black People.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Hitch-HikerHitch-Hiker Posts: 2,873
    Looks interesting, I must go through them properly later on. Right now I'm in work though.
    I'll Ride The Wave Where It Takes Me
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Looks interesting, I must go through them properly later on. Right now I'm in work though.

    I honestly didn't think I'd be very biased towards White people over Blacks. But I guess I don't get a lot of exposure to blacks.

    Last night I was out at a bar that was full of black people and it didn't bother me one bit. One of the girls I was with expressed her discomfort though.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I honestly didn't think I'd be very biased towards White people over Blacks. But I guess I don't get a lot of exposure to blacks.

    Last night I was out at a bar that was full of black people and it didn't bother me one bit. One of the girls I was with expressed her discomfort though.
    Maybe you've heard of Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author (who grew up a mile away from me, went to high school with me and was on my school bus!). He wrote the books "The Tipping Point" and "Blink".

    You might find his work interesting. "Blink" actually talks about how we make unconscious decisions all the time, without realizing it. He's considered one of the most influential people of our time. Anyway, he is half black on his mother's side, and he talks about taking this IAT test in the book "Blink", where he also comes up as naturally biased against blacks, which if memory serves me, he attributes to the cultural values we internalize growing up. i.e. Blacks being portrayed poorly all around, on TV, etc.
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    angelica wrote:
    Maybe you've heard of Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author (who grew up a mile away from me, went to high school with me and was on my school bus!). He wrote the books "The Tipping Point" and "Blink".

    You might find his work interesting. "Blink" actually talks about how we make unconscious decisions all the time, without realizing it. He's considered one of the most influential people of our time. Anyway, he is half black on his mother's side, and he talks about taking this IAT test in the book "Blink", where he also comes up as naturally biased against blacks, which if memory serves me, he attributes to the cultural values we internalize growing up. i.e. Blacks being portrayed poorly all around, on TV, etc.

    One of the scientists Mahzarin Banaji stated that it works that way aswell. Black people may be implicitly bias towards blacks as well. Implicitly meaning that it occurs on a subconcious level. I think it has to do with the association of networks within the brain which are inevitably created by external associations. Banaji says that exposure to these groups can correct some of the biases. For example, if I chilled out with Obama I'd lose some of my automatic response to whites. She stated that if one good thing has come from the Bush Administration, it's the presence of Condoleeza Rice and Collin Powell.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Oh btw, I'm interested to see your results Angelica. Be honest now!
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,977
    hmmmmmm....sounds VERY intriguing! as i don't have the proper time to give it at the moment, must get to work soon :p....i'll definitely give it a go later, thanks for posting......:)
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • chopitdownchopitdown Posts: 2,222
    Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey.
    make sure the fortune that you seek...is the fortune that you need
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    Ahnimus wrote:
    Oh btw, I'm interested to see your results Angelica. Be honest now!
    I haven't taken the test.
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    I did take the test determining whether my brain operates in a male or female way the other day, and I came up exactly in the middle, though.
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Actually, I should argue that the test doesn't actually show a bias. But rather an association. Since the IAT tests for an association of negative and positive words with particular cultural differences. I can't figure out for the life of me how I am at all bias against blacks. But I can understand how I may have negative associations in my brain. I don't believe this means an explicit prejudice at all.

    Though Banaji uses an example of looters in the wake of Katrina. She has two news articles from the Associated Press, in one article the "takers" are black, thuggish looking people and are called "looters", while in the second example they are white, well-dressed and carrying a newspaper and they are called "finders". That's just a little bit of bias there.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • B niceB nice Posts: 182
    i hate everyone just the same
    life has nothing to do with killing time
    Bring it on cause I'm no victim

    b nice loves pearl jam like ed vedder loves america
  • OutOfBreathOutOfBreath Posts: 1,804
    Kindof interesting these. Here are my two results.

    Your data suggest a moderate association of Male with Career and Female with Family compared to Female with Career and Male with Family.

    Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Judaism compared to Other Religions.

    However, with tests like this I have a few objections. They can get to the forefront more generally taught automatic impulses, true enough. However, the implicit claim is then that the results reflect how we think and act. But how often dont we think things and then correct ourselves mentally, or don't act it or say it? Tests like these are interesting, but of limited use.

    Peace
    Dan
    "YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death

    "Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
  • gue_bariumgue_barium Posts: 5,515
    That took too long. I took the weapons/harmless objects-race test and the result was:

    Your data suggest a moderate association of Black Americans with Weapons compared to White Americans.

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  • pjfanatic4pjfanatic4 Posts: 127
    I did a couple of tests.... the answers didn't surprise me. I don't know if that proves/disproves anything...

    It is an interesting site, though. Thanks for putting it here.
  • rebornFixerrebornFixer Posts: 4,901
    Ahnimus wrote:
    Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Thin People compared to Fat People.

    Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Canada compared to the United States.

    Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Old and Young.

    Your data suggest little or no association between Female and Male with Science and Liberal Arts.

    Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for White People compared to Black People.

    Similar to my data, actually.
    Hmmm.
    :)
  • decides2dreamdecides2dream Posts: 14,977
    pjfanatic4 wrote:
    I did a couple of tests.... the answers didn't surprise me. I don't know if that proves/disproves anything...

    It is an interesting site, though. Thanks for putting it here.


    agreed.
    no matter my personal views, i think our social conditioning is quite clearly illustrated in these 'tests' more than anything, like a game of free association...and yea, i enjoyed how they even asked after giving the results, if i felt there was a bias against lefties in the test-taking....:p


    *edit - to clarify, left'handers, southpaws....before anyone thinks i mean left-leaning thinkers......;)
    Stay with me...
    Let's just breathe...


    I am myself like you somehow


  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    It's all about implicit associations.

    I personally found it more difficult to match USA with positive words. It was quite difficult in fact! ;)
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • small town becksmall town beck Posts: 6,691
    Very interesting..I have only done one so far and the result was pretty much what I expected. Who would have guessed that a lefty Canuck would prefer Clinton to Bush?? :rolleyes: :p

    I am going to check out more for sure though so thanks for posting the link. :)
  • Thorns2010Thorns2010 Posts: 2,201
    I contend that my right hand being my dominate hand was the reason I 'associated' Hillary Clinton with 'good'

    Why? becuase I can't stand the woman.
  • Galaxie2X4Galaxie2X4 Posts: 151
    In mythology, darkness or blackness is often associated with death, evil, or fear while light is associated with goodness. For example, Darth Vader is one evil motherfucker and he is the intergalactic man in black. Luke Skywalker on the other hand dresses in light colors and comes from a planet with two suns. In fact, Luke might literally mean light. My point is that an implicit preference for light or white over dark or black does not necessarily mean that you favor light skinned people over dark skinned people. Fortunately most people, well at least some people, can explicitely think about sub-conscious or implicit thoughts or associations and behave morally. Nonetheless, I find the IAT research pretty interesting. Nice thread.
    "My Cadillac's sittin in the back, it isn't me, I'm going home in my Galaxy"
    S. Hoon

    "My body's nobody's body but mine. You run your own body, let me run mine" Chicago '95

    Franken '08
  • JeanwahJeanwah Posts: 6,363
    Galaxie2X4 wrote:
    In mythology, darkness or blackness is often associated with death, evil, or fear while light is associated with goodness. For example, Darth Vader is one evil motherfucker and he is the intergalactic man in black. Luke Skywalker on the other hand dresses in light colors and comes from a planet with two suns. In fact, Luke might literally mean light. My point is that an implicit preference for light or white over dark or black does not necessarily mean that you favor light skinned people over dark skinned people. Fortunately most people, well at least some people, can explicitely think about sub-conscious or implicit thoughts or associations and behave morally. Nonetheless, I find the IAT research pretty interesting. Nice thread.
    But the Storm Troopers are white too! And obviously, they're not the good guys... :D

    This link does look interesting, I'll look at it more when I have more time.
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    angelica wrote:
    Maybe you've heard of Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author (who grew up a mile away from me, went to high school with me and was on my school bus!). He wrote the books "The Tipping Point" and "Blink".

    You might find his work interesting. "Blink" actually talks about how we make unconscious decisions all the time, without realizing it. He's considered one of the most influential people of our time. Anyway, he is half black on his mother's side, and he talks about taking this IAT test in the book "Blink", where he also comes up as naturally biased against blacks, which if memory serves me, he attributes to the cultural values we internalize growing up. i.e. Blacks being portrayed poorly all around, on TV, etc.
    Above mentioned author Malcolm Gladwell was just on Oprah talking about this test. I didn't catch the whole show. I don't watch tv, but my brother called to tell me Malcolm was on.

    They were talking about this test, and how it indicates what is in our unconscious and what we've seen our whole lives. So black people also watch the same tv shows where the crack dealer is a black man and the judge is a white man. And they therefore have the same unconscious bias. They say that our unconscious associations that we have, and that this test sees show us what we've seen in our life before. For example, Oprah assocates women with entrepreneurship because of her experiences, whereas I would not, due to my experiences.

    The point is, and that they talked about, is that we can change this programming, by changing our world. We can direct our attention to having and creating experiences that are empowering to us and to others. We do not need to accept the views and images that we have accepted thus far and without our conscious awareness. From here on in, we can create a new unconscious awareness. For example, we can turn off the media that portrays stereotypes. We can immerse ourselves in healthy situations that create new experiences and a new view. I personally know this works, because I have reprogrammed my unconscious as to what serves me, and makes sense, rather than my old self-defeating unconscious ways.

    We can step out of our programming, if we want.
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    angelica wrote:

    We can step out of our programming, if we want.

    To a degree. I've been able to defeat most of my bias towards men and young people, as well as thin people and largely black people. There are remnants of bias there. But my bias for Canada over the US isn't going away. Probably due largely to the politics which aren't going away.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between African American and European American.
  • angelicaangelica Posts: 6,038
    Ahnimus wrote:
    To a degree. I've been able to defeat most of my bias towards men and young people, as well as thin people and largely black people. There are remnants of bias there. But my bias for Canada over the US isn't going away. Probably due largely to the politics which aren't going away.
    To a large degree. And I'm talking far beyond giving up biases. I'm talking about anything we want to do concerning ourselves. From creating vast wealth to achieving our birthright of vibrant health.

    I also learned this from NLP. To change the inner images I give myself. The brain considers our visualizations as real as reality, so we can change our inner vision of life and how we perceive things, we therefore change our unconscious so that it supports what we want on the surface. Our unconscious begins to believe it is surrounded by a positive and healthy environment, because we create these images consciously. As long as it's aligned with natural life processes. For example, the body is a naturally healing system. We have to work very hard to create illness in the body, considering it is compelled towards health, healing and rejuvenation. So, to give up the patterns that we keep that create inner tensions and create illness is very much aligned with life. For example, it's been said quitting smoking is like lifting a 300 pound weight off of the body, for how much energy the body has freed up for healthier functions. Even though quitting smoking is a challenge with overcoming the addictive and psychological aspects, it SO aligned with the natural health the body strives for.
    "The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth." ~ Niels Bohr

    http://www.myspace.com/illuminatta

    Rhinocerous Surprise '08!!!
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