For this week’s blogpost, I took two Implicit Association Tests. I took the Asian American and Sexuality IATs, which measured for racism and homophobia. The tests called for associating words with a certain group of people, in these tests Asian Americans and homosexuals, by pressing “i” or “e” for the appropriate associations the tests call for. When I began taking the test, I went very slowly to make sure I was getting each answer right. As the test progressed, however, I became more confident in taking the test which caused me to make several mistakes. The results did not surprise me too much, but it was interesting to find out whether I had a preference for a particular group of people or not. The results definitely opened my eyes to some slight biases that I had thought did not exist.
I believe taking the IAT could be useful for college and the workforce, but people who have trouble with coordinating their hands to things may no be very successful on these tests. Despite the mistakes I made on my tests, I think the IAT can reliably measure if someone is inherently racist, sexist, or homophobic. I believe the IAT can reveal our hidden biases and slight preferences that are likely shaped by the environment we grew up in. By reviewing these results, we will be more aware of ourselves and form less automatic negative associations and assumptions with a certain group of people.
