Take the Racism Test You can take this test yourself on Harvard University's Web site. Click on demonstration and go to Race IAT (scroll down for ninth test). (You need to register if you want the results to go into the database for Project Implicit; the demonstration is anonymous) Then answer the poll above: its anonymous. How Not to be Racist Whether out in polite society or answering the questions of nosy psychologists, most people insist to the utmost that they’re not racist. But when those same psychologists test people's subconscious feelings, they find a much different story. More than 80 percent of white people show some measurable prejudice (pdf) against black people, for instance. About 7 percent of white people, though, actually show a distinct lack of racism on probing psychological tests, says psychologist Robert Livingston of Northwestern University. Recently Livingston and Brian Drwecki of the University of Wisconsin studied these people to find out why they're not racist and, by implication, why the rest of us are. It turns out that the nonracists share a unique emotional style: They rarely form any negative associations, whether they're thinking about meaningless symbols or real human beings. In their experiment, the researchers tested people’s tendency to form positive and negative associations by showing them written Chinese characters followed quickly by pictures of “good” things—like baby seals, flowers, and waterfalls—or pictures of “bad” things, like mutilated faces, snarling dogs, and feces. (Previous research has showed that Chinese characters appear meaningless and neutral to English speakers.) The researchers presumed that the characters would take on positive or negative traits depending on what images they were paired with. And indeed, most people liked the characters that were paired with good pictures and disliked those linked to bad images. A select few, though, did not form negative associations with Chinese characters. They made positive links just as often as anybody else, but the negative images didn’t stick in their minds. They seemed not to pay as much attention to negative information as others did and were less likely to form negative associations between two things. “They have rose-colored filters,” Livingston says. It turns out these people are generally the same people who show no prejudice on the implicit racism test. The researchers say that negative associations likely have such power in most people's minds because evolution prepared us to notice bad things more than good things. “If there’s a lion hiding in a bush, you’d better see it,” Livingston says. “Whereas if there’s a tree of mangoes, it’s unfortunate if you don’t notice it, but it’s not as critical to your survival.” Since each negative association has more weight in the brain, one must overcompensate with many positive links just to get back to neutral. The psychologists aren’t clear on why some people don’t make negative associations, but they are looking for genetic and social factors that predict it. Other recent research on race has shown that the desire to look past these powerful negative associations is, unfortunately, not very effective at decreasing people's actual level of prejudice. “It’s not a matter of teaching people that prejudice is wrong,” Livingston says. “They know that already. You need to expose them to positive associations.” So how do you motivate people to form positive feelings for people they don't like? Psychologist Linda Tropp of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst calls Livingston and Drwecki’s paper “provocative and important,” but she says that the desire to avoid being racist can compel people to seek contact with the very people they're biased against, which is known to be the best way to reduce prejudice. So maybe our conscious angels can help us silence those subconscious devils after all. http://discovermagazine.com/2007/oct/how-not-to-be-racist
well I am not about to fall into a category of gene pool that suffers on all levels...mentally challenging...physically unstable. Mentally challenging: % of black educated is so much way lower than white population, many are in jail, their morality is lacking as well. physically challenging: mostly on moral levels and transfer of STD's is prevalent. I really would not care for color of my skin...or my children. But on this planet in this world I live in, the differences are more than skin color and they are apparent and nothing can hide this truth.
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Bred Pitt over Tom Cruise. Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Barack Obama over John Edwards. Duh Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I hate that test, I took it and I hate it...It tricks my choices it equated "Good with african americans and bad with european whites" I had it with the test. grrrr
I saw a cultural one, but not a race one. "Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Unicultural and Multicultural."
Wow.... now I see why Harvard is America's top university. In a nation where blacks are over represented in prisons, achieve lower educational attainment, commit more crime, earn less, suffer worse health, live in run down neighborhoods, are victims of crime, produce violent music and violent culture, have very few positive role models, and are given to spending what little money they have on bling, Harvard geniuses suggest that equating negative words with black faces is an expression of subconscious racism. LOL.
I have done this test before. One major flaw with this test is that is fails to lack acknowledge individuals who have poor reaction times or a poor sense of left and right.
by the way if you are wondering about who is it that abstained from answering the question posed by this thread...it was me.
I am one of those individuals...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I just press "E" and "I"....left and right...hehhehe
OK, "Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American." Other results?
