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Implicit association test quizlet
Implicit association test introduction essay
Implicit association test introduction essay
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After reading See No Bias by Shankar Vedantam I have learned that many people are unaware their biases. Mahzarin Banaji took a bias test, now known as the Implicit Association Test and her results stated she had a biased for whites over blacks. She didn’t understand her results because she is a minority too. She did an experiment where she had people picking from a list of unknown names. “The experiment showed how subtle cues can cause errors without people 's awareness.” Millions of people have taking the bias test and large majorities of people showed biases, even if they said they had no biases. The results also showed that minorities had the same biases as the majority groups. For example, “Some 48 percent of blacks showed a pro-white or anti-black bias; 36 percent of Arab …show more content…
The author explains that the problem is that even if the results state you have biases, people might not act in a biases manner. Another reason to limit the test is that people can fool the test by thinking of counter-stereotypes while taking the test. No one knows exactly why people develop biases. The only thing that has reduced biases is having close friendships with people of other ethnic groups. Having counter-stereotypical experiences has proven to lower biases and change how one thinks. However, these experiences will not eliminate biases altogether. Banaji believes that in order to eliminate biases we need to be conscious of our biases and make a conscious effort to stop thinking bias. For example, engaging with people you typically wouldn’t normally talk to can help eliminate biases. I like to think I hang out with a diverse group of people, but I also know that I am bias. I totally agree with the author that in order to eliminate biases people need to make a conscious effort to change. After reading this article I am going to engage with people I normally don’t in order to lower my
Blindspot, authors Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald reveal how people formulate decisions and judgments automatically based on their exposure to cultural attitudes regarding age, gender, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, disability status, and nationality. They claim a section of our brain, a“blind spot,” is responsible for storing the hidden biases that lead us to select choices and decisions in our life. Furthermore, the authors aim to unfold the scientific logic of their analysis of the effects of hidden biases so people will be “better able to achieve the alignment,” between their behavior and intentions (Banaji and Greenwald, 2013) preface
Numerous research and investigations were conducted on the topic of stereotype threat. In the articles connected to this paper, experiments were performed to see how stereotype threat affected test results. During tests some participants were exposed to variables that activated a negative stereotype while others were not. Those exposed to the negative stereotype had lower results. Therefore stereotype threat resulted in weaker performance. It is proven the threat exists but so...
Referring to the article with the same name “I’m Not Racist, But…”, a social psychology lecturer at the University of Sydney, Dr. Fiona White says, “stereotyping is a normal cognitive process that allows us to efficiently categorise things into groups” but “becomes problematic when people begin to endorse certain negative associations and allows these negative associations to affect their behavior towards certain groups.”
It is only human to be biased. However, the problem begins when we allow our bigotry to manifest into an obstacle that hinders us from genuinely getting to know people. Long time diversity advocate, Verna Myers, in her 2014 Ted Talk, “How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them” discusses the implicit biases we may obtain when it comes to race, specifically black men and women. Myers purpose is quite like the cliché phrase “Face your fears.” Her goal is to impress upon us that we all have biases (conscious or unconscious). We just have to be aware of them and face them head on, so that problems such as racism, can be resolved. Throughout the Ted Talk, Verna Myers utilizes an admonishing yet entertaining tone in order to grasp our attention
The Project Implicit, Harvard Education is a non-profit organization that seeks to collect data on an individual’s subconscious chooses. The test that I took was the Race IAT (Implicit Association Test), which measures and shows an individual’s implicit belief and attitudes that one may not be unwilling to admit that they have (Teachman, Nock, 2011). So, this test was an attempt to see if I have biases that I do not really know about. This is interesting and scary at the same time. To have someone basically interpret your thoughts through a series of unrelated responses.
The hidden bias test by Project Implicit was interesting method of determining hidden biases. A hidden bias is, “Biases thought to be absent or extinguished remain as "mental residue" in most of us.”(Teaching Tolerance, 2014). Studies have shown a link between biases and behavior and biases can be revealed through an individual’s actions. If biases are revealed through actions then they must be learned. Teaching Tolerance indicates, “Bias is perpetuated by conformity with in-group attitudes and socialization by the culture at large.” (Teaching Tolerance, 2014). This perspective supports the belief which biases are learned and never forgotten and reestablished through behavior. My perception of biases is they are formed through experiences not group conformity. Culture is important influence in forming biases, yet biases can change. According to Teaching Tolerance, even if a bias still changes it lingers in the unconscious. An interesting perspective, biases continue to stay with each of us even if we think it is hidden.
Taking an Implicit association test may not be something that we would want to base any serious decisions off of; it is a useful tool in being able to learn about ourselves better. By being made aware that we may unconsciously hold views that we are not proud of, we can inoculate ourselves and make a personal change for the better.
One of the works of art that particularly stood out to me from the chapter 4 online
Growing up in a very accepting and forward home, I always found myself to be free of most bias. Having been the target of some racial prejudice in the past, I always told myself that I would make sure nobody else had to feel the same way. While this may be a great way to think, it really only covers the fact that you will not have any explicit bias. What I have realized during the course of this class is that implicit bias often has a much stronger effect on us than we might think, and even the most conscious people can be affected.
Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards, authors of Anti-Bias Education: for Young Children and Ourselves, provide a great example of an internal bias that results in unfair judgments. “One example is if you were raised to believe that being prompt is a sign of responsibility, and your family always had a car, then it might be hard for you to comprehend the experience of low-income families who chronically drop their children off late due to unreliable buses (pg. 21).” It is little anecdotes like those that make you evaluate your pure un-bias tendencies against certain social identities.
However, unconscious bias can lead to far subtler, but highly crippling, form of discrimination. It may be the factor in African Americans not being hired, being overlooked for a promotion or becoming the first employees to be terminated in a workforce reduction without any indication that the decision was based on a person’s skin color or ethnic-sounding name.
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity recognizes implicit bias as “the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner”(p1). This bias is often undetected by the person who holds it, making it difficult to confront. In fact,
I’m here to argue that implicit bias is a form of culpable ignorance. Culpable ignorance is failing to know (or find out) about something that you should have known (Chau, Epistemology of Ignorance Part 1). Knowing how this world is now in recent times, we can clearly see that no one is near perfection, and that can tell us plenty. In some cases, making our implicit biases noticeable to ourselves can make things better, but also can make them worse. We’re focusing more towards the better, once we start to understand our implicit biases we will be able to catch them in the act, and ask ourselves as to why we feel that way, and possibly bring them to a stop. Bringing us to an example, if you are in a car with your smaller siblings and you see a dark skinned American walking by you automatically lock the doors. That implicit bias can be put to ease in many ways with the first including questioning
I have learned that bias is very hard to overcome, but acknowledging its basis can help change the lenses I view the world through.
Pronin, E., Lin, D. Y., & Ross, L. (2002). The bias blind spot: Perceptions of bias in self