Participant Observer Blog

Most people think that they know themselves very well. People like to think that they know themselves better than anyone else, that they know their inner thoughts and feelings better than anyone. However, we may not actually be aware of all of our attitudes. To a certain extent, we are products of our situations and our society. Our parents and peers have a huge influence on our thoughts and attitudes, and, even though we my not be aware of it, our society has a large influence on how we think. These thoughts and attitudes have an influence on our interactions with others whether we like it or not.

To measure people's inner thoughts and attitudes, Implicit Association Tests have been developed. These tests use word associations and word-picture associations to measure people's true inner thoughts. For example, the Race IAT uses pictures of black and white people as well as words that are defined as good and bad. The test asks the participant to associate these pictures and words with different categories (i.e. European American, African American, Good, and Bad). The categories switch sides and order in order to avoid any possible bias.

The first test that I decided to take was probably that most popular one: Race. I'll have to admit that I was a little nervous before taking this test and I thought of copping out and taking another test thought could maybe be a little less detrimental to my self-concept. I do not consider myself to be racist by any means and I do not consider myself to be one who favors any race over another. I feel that I give people an equal chance regardless of color. However, I was still a little nervous about what the test would say.

The results of the test said that I had a slight automatic preference toward white people compared to black people. I do not believe that this is consistent with my conscious beliefs and attitudes, however, I cannot rule out the possibility that the result could have come from some implicit attitudes that I thought I did not have. It is very possible that the result could be due to the fact that I have been exposed to many, many more white people than black people throughout my life. I grew up going to a mostly white school and I attend Southwestern, a mostly white university.

I think taking the IAT has made me a little more aware of the fact that I may have attitudes that I am not aware of that influence my interactions with other people.

The second IAT that I took was the Religion IAT. I guess I was feeling a little edgy when I was taking these tests because I think that this one also touches on a pretty sensitive topic in our society. The results of the test showed that I associate more positively with Christianity and more negatively with Islam, with Hinduism and Judaism being in the middle. These results are consistent with my beliefs simply because I am a Christian. However, I do not like the fact that it said that I associate more negatively with Islam. As a Christian, I believe that everyone deserves to be shown love no matter who they are or what they believe, and that it is not my place to judge those people. So, I am a little disappointed with that result. However, if the result of the IAT is showing my true inner attitude, I am glad that I am now aware of it so that I can make a conscious effort to fix it.

After I went back and retook the Race IAT I was pretty surprised with the result. I didn't consciously change the way that I took the test. I just wanted to see if it would give me the same result, and it didn't. The second time around it said that I have a moderate automatic preference toward African American people compared to White people. Several things could have happened to produce this result. I could have unknowingly made an effort to respond faster to black people than white people. Also, I took the test later at night when I was tired, and I definitely made more errors than the first time. Either one of these things could have contributed to the results.

Overall, my experience with the IAT was very positive. I think that everyone should try it because it is a bit of an eye-opening experience. If anything, it gets you thinking about prejudice and stereotypes. It made me realize that I probably have inner beliefs and attitudes that influence my actions without my knowing it.


References

Greenwald, A. G., & Farnham, S. D. (2000). Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 79, 1022-1038.

Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1464-1480.

Fazio, R. H., & Olson, M. A. (2003). Implicit measures in social cognition research: Their meaning and use. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 297-327.