I'm appalled at the results of my implicit bias tests, which showed I have significant biases towards Native Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans. I thought I was more open-minded. Anyone else get the same results?
Oh, yeah. Mine was interesting in that my skin tone score showed no automatic preference between light skinned and black skinned people. However I scored:
Strong automatic preference for European Americans over African American, slight automatic association for American with White American and foreign with Native American, and moderate association for American with European American and foreign with Asian American. (Have to say the b&w sketches used in this test were very hard to make out.)
I'll be unpacking this for a while. I admit to living a fairly narrow, white suburban existence. I didn't take a test on Latin American bias, but suspect I'd show less bias. That's one racial group I've had most exposure to in my life.
I had similar results and became more anxious with each test. Looks as if I have some work to do. The reassuring part is that it is a natural behavior (whether right or wrong) to be drawn to and feel more comfortable with those most like us; we usually must make efforts and be willing to live with some discomfort in order to break down these bias barriers.
Well my results were a mixed bag. I moderately associate American with Native Americans more than Euro Americans; and I don't have noticeable automatic associations on the Race IAT; but the skin tone one, I can't remember exactly what it measured, but I have moderate association of dark skin tones with "bad" and "foreign" I guess; and I have moderate association of Asians with being foreign. These don't surprise me. I'm married to a black man, and I've worked with Native American groups on legal issues. But the Race IAT was the first one I took, and I think I was thinking too much. The skin tone one, was the 3rd I took, and I noticed it was far easier for me to associate dark tones and "bad" or "foreign" than the other way around. Troubling. Goes to show, no matter how educated we are or how much our lives are intertwined, we were still raised and we still live in a very racist society, and we can't help but absorb it.
I was surprised to find that I had no automatic preference for all of them except a slight association for Asian. I was expecting to see a higher bias. But I wonder if the fact that I have lived internationally for the last 27 years has changed that. I lived in Japan for 8 of those years so I wonder if the slight association was connected to that. There is more to our bias' than we realize. It does not mean you will act with prejudice, but some of it is what you are exposed to.
@Catherine Berghahn I thought my results would show more equanimity, or less bias (towards white/european) as I lived in Asia and Africa for the first 17 years of my life, and my school friends were from those countries. But I had bias (from slight to strong) for whites/europeans. That is giving me food for thought (I did live in a very white neighborhood the past 25 years so perhaps that changed my "comfort zone" to people who "look like me").
I had similar results or with the preference skewing slightly towards darker skin, etc. I wondered if this might have to do with efforts I've been making with students (my university has a fairly diverse population) to try to fight my own biases. I know the results were less skewed toward European Americans or light skin than when I took some of the tests several years ago. Of course, I also worry that my brain has found a way to game the test. . .
Picking up on this conversation: I wonder who is the target audience for these tests? Or rather, how do these tests leave space for people who are not American? I am an American who has not lived in America for over a decade, and am wondering how this impacts my own sense of foreign and American, and therefore my results? (Many of the American landmarks are ones I cannot relate to at all, while some of the images meant to be foreign feel familiar.). My husband, who is not American and has never lived in America, similarly struggled with the tests that asked us to categorise things as American or foreign. That said, the tests did provide impetus for ample self-reflection and unpacking, for which we are grateful! But like Cathy, above, we wonder how spending years living in Africa and Asia have impacted our biases and results.
I was a little annoyed by the tests in that your fingers are trained to answer one way or other before swapping. I was surprised at how little bias I have. I have a slight preference for dark skin tones, and a slight preference for European Americans. I guess I was happy? to see that my implicit bias is held in check? There is always more work to be done to rid the mind of bias, though.
As someone who has taken these multiple times over the years, as well as teaches about them for social work students, I just wanted to let you know that this is a really common response to taking these. It can be really upsetting when you have viewed or experienced yourself as less biased than the test results showed. This, like much of the process in this training, is a starting point and a place to grow from.
I am certainly not proud of the results. I am a strait white man and, much to my chagrin, showed a mild to moderate preference for all of my own identities. And although it hurts to hear, that is the point. Systemic racism isn't a result of evil people with hate in their heart. Its the vast majority of us, believing we're the "good" people but we are stamped with implicit bias that shapes how we see the world. Very interesting and much to reflect on.
I have taken these testes before but forgot my results. I don't think I'd done the Asian and Native American ones before. This time around I Showed no preferences except for a slight preference identifying Native Americans as American more than European Americans.
As a white man, I'm pleased to see these results, though I'm curious how much of it is truly bias or just a left brain/right brain pattern-matching to hand-eye coordination exercise, since that's (At least consciously) how I heard myself processing the questions and answers.
My education through high school was fairly non-diverse, but my college class, my workplaces, and my fitness choices since then have been very diverse, which may play a part in these results, since I came to recognize people of many colors and backgrounds as at least intellectual equals (usually superiors) and never felt I had a claim to American identity as a first-generation (and third-generation) American (my father immigrated from Europe, as did my mom's grandparents). I always felt Native Americans have a much greater claim to American-ness than I do because of that.
Regarding the race association with good/bad sentiment, I think again my college and professional/fitness lives play a part here too - the vast majority of my personal experiences with BIPOC, particularly African Americans, have been positive. I find it difficult therefore to let politicians, pundits, or certain media outlets sway my thoughts on the topic with their rhetoric, since my experience counts for so much more. Indeed, the majority of bad experiences I've had in life have been at the hands of people who look and sounds just like me.
Discussion Decorum: Participants will treat each other with respect. When disagreeing or debating, focus comments on the facts and training content, not personalities. No personal attacks. Purposefully rude or derogatory language will not be tolerated.
Oh, yeah. Mine was interesting in that my skin tone score showed no automatic preference between light skinned and black skinned people. However I scored:
Strong automatic preference for European Americans over African American, slight automatic association for American with White American and foreign with Native American, and moderate association for American with European American and foreign with Asian American. (Have to say the b&w sketches used in this test were very hard to make out.)
I'll be unpacking this for a while. I admit to living a fairly narrow, white suburban existence. I didn't take a test on Latin American bias, but suspect I'd show less bias. That's one racial group I've had most exposure to in my life.
I had similar results and became more anxious with each test. Looks as if I have some work to do. The reassuring part is that it is a natural behavior (whether right or wrong) to be drawn to and feel more comfortable with those most like us; we usually must make efforts and be willing to live with some discomfort in order to break down these bias barriers.
Well my results were a mixed bag. I moderately associate American with Native Americans more than Euro Americans; and I don't have noticeable automatic associations on the Race IAT; but the skin tone one, I can't remember exactly what it measured, but I have moderate association of dark skin tones with "bad" and "foreign" I guess; and I have moderate association of Asians with being foreign. These don't surprise me. I'm married to a black man, and I've worked with Native American groups on legal issues. But the Race IAT was the first one I took, and I think I was thinking too much. The skin tone one, was the 3rd I took, and I noticed it was far easier for me to associate dark tones and "bad" or "foreign" than the other way around. Troubling. Goes to show, no matter how educated we are or how much our lives are intertwined, we were still raised and we still live in a very racist society, and we can't help but absorb it.
I was surprised to find that I had no automatic preference for all of them except a slight association for Asian. I was expecting to see a higher bias. But I wonder if the fact that I have lived internationally for the last 27 years has changed that. I lived in Japan for 8 of those years so I wonder if the slight association was connected to that. There is more to our bias' than we realize. It does not mean you will act with prejudice, but some of it is what you are exposed to.
@Catherine Berghahn I thought my results would show more equanimity, or less bias (towards white/european) as I lived in Asia and Africa for the first 17 years of my life, and my school friends were from those countries. But I had bias (from slight to strong) for whites/europeans. That is giving me food for thought (I did live in a very white neighborhood the past 25 years so perhaps that changed my "comfort zone" to people who "look like me").
I had similar results or with the preference skewing slightly towards darker skin, etc. I wondered if this might have to do with efforts I've been making with students (my university has a fairly diverse population) to try to fight my own biases. I know the results were less skewed toward European Americans or light skin than when I took some of the tests several years ago. Of course, I also worry that my brain has found a way to game the test. . .
Picking up on this conversation: I wonder who is the target audience for these tests? Or rather, how do these tests leave space for people who are not American? I am an American who has not lived in America for over a decade, and am wondering how this impacts my own sense of foreign and American, and therefore my results? (Many of the American landmarks are ones I cannot relate to at all, while some of the images meant to be foreign feel familiar.). My husband, who is not American and has never lived in America, similarly struggled with the tests that asked us to categorise things as American or foreign. That said, the tests did provide impetus for ample self-reflection and unpacking, for which we are grateful! But like Cathy, above, we wonder how spending years living in Africa and Asia have impacted our biases and results.
I was a little annoyed by the tests in that your fingers are trained to answer one way or other before swapping. I was surprised at how little bias I have. I have a slight preference for dark skin tones, and a slight preference for European Americans. I guess I was happy? to see that my implicit bias is held in check? There is always more work to be done to rid the mind of bias, though.
As someone who has taken these multiple times over the years, as well as teaches about them for social work students, I just wanted to let you know that this is a really common response to taking these. It can be really upsetting when you have viewed or experienced yourself as less biased than the test results showed. This, like much of the process in this training, is a starting point and a place to grow from.
I am certainly not proud of the results. I am a strait white man and, much to my chagrin, showed a mild to moderate preference for all of my own identities. And although it hurts to hear, that is the point. Systemic racism isn't a result of evil people with hate in their heart. Its the vast majority of us, believing we're the "good" people but we are stamped with implicit bias that shapes how we see the world. Very interesting and much to reflect on.
I have taken these testes before but forgot my results. I don't think I'd done the Asian and Native American ones before. This time around I Showed no preferences except for a slight preference identifying Native Americans as American more than European Americans. As a white man, I'm pleased to see these results, though I'm curious how much of it is truly bias or just a left brain/right brain pattern-matching to hand-eye coordination exercise, since that's (At least consciously) how I heard myself processing the questions and answers. My education through high school was fairly non-diverse, but my college class, my workplaces, and my fitness choices since then have been very diverse, which may play a part in these results, since I came to recognize people of many colors and backgrounds as at least intellectual equals (usually superiors) and never felt I had a claim to American identity as a first-generation (and third-generation) American (my father immigrated from Europe, as did my mom's grandparents). I always felt Native Americans have a much greater claim to American-ness than I do because of that. Regarding the race association with good/bad sentiment, I think again my college and professional/fitness lives play a part here too - the vast majority of my personal experiences with BIPOC, particularly African Americans, have been positive. I find it difficult therefore to let politicians, pundits, or certain media outlets sway my thoughts on the topic with their rhetoric, since my experience counts for so much more. Indeed, the majority of bad experiences I've had in life have been at the hands of people who look and sounds just like me.