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An interesting Psych test from Harvard...

Kevin M.Kevin M.
edited June 2007 in General
http://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/index.html

I took it and the results were interesting, though hardly suprising in my case...my results were little to no automatic preference to either category...

Comments

  • Bhambra
    edited June 2007
    same results... :)
    ........ but i wasn't surprised .
  • Malakaiii
    edited June 2007
    I've seen this test before, only it was with old and young people instead of black and white.

    I doubt that it's a very reliable test, or that it even studies what it claims to. For example, they could put pictures of cats and dogs instead of black and white people, and then tell you which one you liked more. Or different cola labels, or car brands, or people you dated in highschool.

    It really comes down to how well you are able to complete the task, not necessarily your preference for one over the other. I'm assuming they track the number of times you incorrectly link the "bad" words with a certain race. This would be subject to a practice affect, as I could feel myself improving as the test progressed, as well as an expectancy affect, because like Bhambra said, the results weren't surprising. You knew that you wanted to like both races equally, so you were careful to match things properly.

    I just don't think it's an accurate test, but maybe someone can prove me otherwise?
  • Bhambra
    edited June 2007
    I totally agree with you Malakaii. Everyone's taught to treat others equally, and knowing what we want our results to be, or knowing what they should be, ppl are careful, no matter how quickly they do the test.
  • Kevin M.Kevin M.
    edited June 2007
    Actually Psyc 361 (Cognitive Psychology) deals exactly with this type of thing. We all hold unconscious biases towards certain races or skin colours. Although you may consciously control these biases, they are there. An Implicit Association Test, if administered by a professional and done correctly is actually able to expose these biases. It basically comes down to stereotype activation which is an automatic process...which is why racism is still around today
  • Malakaiii
    edited June 2007
    Interesting! I want to take Psyc 361. Maybe in September. :smile:

    I agree that the test would have to be administered by a professional!
  • Kevin M.Kevin M.
    edited June 2007
    You should! It's not as hard as it sounds, and it really gives you a lot to think about...the funny thing about psych is that if you try to explain things to normal people, all you get are funny looks lol

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