I'm not sure if this means I'm racist or not

[portlander23]

Project Implicit is a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a “virtual laboratory” for collecting data on the Internet.

Project Implicit was founded in 1998 by three scientists – Tony Greenwald (University of Washington), Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University), and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia). Project Implicit Mental Health launched in 2011, led by Bethany Teachman and Matt Nock. Project Implicit also provides consulting, education, and training services on implicit bias, diversity and inclusion, leadership, applying science to practice, and innovation.

I tried this test:

Race ('Black - White' IAT). This IAT requires the ability to distinguish faces of European and African origin. It indicates that most Americans have an automatic preference for white over black.

Thank you for completing the study.

The categorization task you completed is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The task assesses associations between concepts by measuring how quickly a person can categorize, for example, GOOD words with White faces compared to GOOD words with Black faces. The test often reveals associations that are different than one's conscious beliefs. For example, even people who have no conscious preference between Black and White may still have implicit associations that White is better than Black.

Your results are reported below:

Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American.

The test is a little trippy and it felt a bit manipulative, but interesting none the less.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

[Warpy]

1. I took a similar one a few years ago

and the result said I had no bias, nuts because no white person who grew up in the Jim Crow south like I did can possibly have no bias.

I just concluded it was a bogus test that explored too few variables to be of much use.

However, there is a white preference in this country, probably because most of the faces we see in positions of importance are white, along with most of the faces in our media. That doesn't surprise me a bit and having the bias show up doesn't make anyone a racist unless that person acts on that bias and discriminates against POC.

[Blasphemer]

2. Took this test for a class...

The class-wide stats (most being in the 20-ish age range) were about the same as those for test-takers as a whole. I ended up in the "no bias" group. I agree that it's an interesting test and I thought it useful as a counterpoint to the very non-productive promotion of "colorblindness" and declarations of being a "post-racial" society.

[marble falls]

3. I got:

Your results are reported below:
Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American.

[d_r]

4. I got

Your Result
Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between African American and European American.


I think there is a lot of room for error in the test.

[Igel]

5. There's a lot of room for error in the theory.

The problem with it is that when people go to replicate the results, using the same protocols, whether from the published sources or what the original researchers provide, the results vary widely. Even when the researchers look over the protocols to make sure they're implemented the same way.

Those who believe in the theory tend to replicate others' results; those who don't, don't.

Now, imagine a science experiment like that. "I don't believe in the gas laws," so all of a sudden PV=nT doesn't work. But if somebody says, "I think that the gas laws work just fine," it does.

[d_r]

6. what you just said

makes sense to me