Acceptable Behaviour and Political Leanings

[f/22]

^^If I'm understanding this correctly, when you do this test, and it turns out you have the ability to distinguish between, say, faces of people with African and European origin, this means you have a preference for one or the other, rather than merely the ability to distinguish those characteristics which are more common to one than the other? This seems a dangerous supposition.

Understanding and interpreting IAT results

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/c ... nding.html

Although the IAT was developed for research use, it has clear potential for application outside the laboratory. Our goal, in developing website demonstrations of the IAT, is to make this technique available for educational purposes (including self-education). The IAT may be especially interesting if you find that it reveals an automatic association that you could not control. For example, you may believe that women and men should be equally associated with "science" - yet, your automatic associations may show that you (like many others) associate male (more than female) with science.

How might you use experiences with these various tests to think about the implications of unconscious thoughts and feelings? We can tell you about the types of questions we considered after taking the age IAT: "What does it mean that we show an automatic association between old and unpleasant? What is the source of such knowledge? Should we be disturbed by the fact that we possess such associations? If we are (and indeed we are!), what might we do about it?" Such questions are addressed further in the answers to frequently asked questions.

We urge caution in using the IAT to reach conclusions about yourself or others. You might wonder, for example, if this test can be used to make decisions about yourself (e.g., what should I buy, where should I go to school, etc.) If you are female, and you show a greater association between male and science (as the majority of men and women do), should you decide to avoid a scientific career? Our opinion is: Most definitely not! This test result might instead prompt you to take note of the broad reach of gender stereotypes and to ask what it means to be setting out towards a scientific career in a world in which so many people automatically associate science with male (including perhaps yourself).

Can (or should) people use this test to make decisions about others? Can one, for example, use this test to measure somebody else's automatic racial preference, and use it to decide that they should or should not serve on a jury? We assert that the IAT should not be used in any such way. Especially at this early stage of the IAT's development, it is much preferable to use it mainly to develop awareness of one's own and others' automatic preferences and stereotypes. Using the IAT as the basis for making significant decisions about self or others could lead to undesired and unjustified consequences.
<snip>

FAQs

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/c ... html#faq11

For instance:

What does it mean that my IAT score is labelled 'slight', 'moderate', or 'strong'?
Answer: Assume that you respond faster when flower pictures and pleasant words are paired on a single key than when insect pictures and pleasant words are paired on a single key. Your score would be described as showing automatic preference for flowers. (In general, a result shows an association between concepts that, when paired, get fast responding.) The labels 'slight', 'moderate', and 'strong' refer to the strength of the association (i.e. how strongly you associate flower pictures with pleasant words). No matter which IAT you took, if a speed difference between different pairings was so great as to be obvious to you, it would likely be labelled a 'strong' effect. The 'moderate' label also indicates a difference large enough so that you would probably notice it. A 'slight' effect is one that is noticeable in statistical analysis, but you may not have been aware of it.

[f/22]

If you want to skip the Demonstration Tests, here’s the link to the Take a Test section.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

If you don’t want to supply any personal information just click the Decline button all the way through until the test starts.

[f/22]

For instance, my rapid association with skin colour and certain words shows that I have an association preference for white skin.
What’s so dangerous in considering that—Temet Nosce = Know Thyself?

[rustled]

For instance, my rapid association with skin colour and certain words shows that I have an association preference for white skin.
What’s so dangerous in considering that—Temet Nosce = Know Thyself?

Does this simply indicate a preference for white skin, or does it imply a preference for people with white skin? To me, there's a substantial difference. How many folk will read too much into the results? (Temet Nosce: does knowing you prefer white skin over darker skin really mean anything more than knowing you prefer blue shirts over green shirts? If so, precisely what does it mean about you? And what, if anything, should you try to do about it?)

I think the folk behind the IAT fully understand what I meant by "dangerous". From your snips (with my bold):

We urge caution in using the IAT to reach conclusions about yourself or others. You might wonder, for example, if this test can be used to make decisions about yourself (e.g., what should I buy, where should I go to school, etc.) If you are female, and you show a greater association between male and science (as the majority of men and women do), should you decide to avoid a scientific career? Our opinion is: Most definitely not! This test result might instead prompt you to take note of the broad reach of gender stereotypes and to ask what it means to be setting out towards a scientific career in a world in which so many people automatically associate science with male (including perhaps yourself).

Can (or should) people use this test to make decisions about others? Can one, for example, use this test to measure somebody else's automatic racial preference, and use it to decide that they should or should not serve on a jury? We assert that the IAT should not be used in any such way. Especially at this early stage of the IAT's development, it is much preferable to use it mainly to develop awareness of one's own and others' automatic preferences and stereotypes. Using the IAT as the basis for making significant decisions about self or others could lead to undesired and unjustified consequences.

It's all interesting, as long as folk don't jump to conclusions about themselves and others.

[f/22]

Have you taken any of the tests?

[rustled]

Have you taken any of the tests?

No, I generally avoid internet tests for a variety of reasons.

I realize it may be helpful for understanding the results, though. Still, it seems ok, I think, to question how the results may and/or should be used without actually taking the test.

If you're willing to share, what did you find out about yourself that seems useful to you? For example, in what way do you find it useful to know you have "an association preference" for white skin? What does this discovery actually mean, to you, and how is it helpful?

[f/22]

Have you taken any of the tests?

1 --No, I generally avoid internet tests for a variety of reasons.

2 -- I realize it may be helpful for understanding the results, though. Still, it seems ok, I think, to question how the results may and/or should be used without actually taking the test.

3 -- If you're willing to share, what did you find out about yourself that seems useful to you? For example, in what way do you find it useful to know you have "an association preference" for white skin? What does this discovery actually mean, to you, and how is it helpful?

To best answer your questions and to bring you the actual post-test information, I took the test again and found that, as promised below, they gave me more practice trials than before as a means to help reduce my ‘finger problems.’ I believe I was both tired and ‘enthusiastic’ when I took the test yesterday. The website encourages repeats.

To answer your questions:

1 – I consider this a computer based interactive test.

I’ve taken them before from home as part of university courses that I was enrolled in.

2 – Whatever you think is best for you experience-wise. There’s lots of information below, but I don’t think it would have much associative value without taking the test.

3 – I’m willing to share; please see below as well.

When I filled out the information gathering section before taking the test I indicated that I had no associative preference between white and dark skin. All information gathering, aside from taking the test, is optional and can be declined.

I was somewhat surprised when I got my result, however I've learned from several other university information based sources (books and papers) that moderate ‘hive’ biases are normal as long as they don’t turn into 'monkey' manifestations of hate.

My discovery means that my results are helpful to me in that they may be something to watch for in myself, and the meaning for that is pretty much as it says below:

“Implicit preferences can predict behavior. Implicit preferences are related to discrimination in hiring and promotion, medical treatment, and decisions related to criminal justice.”

And

“Right now, there is not enough research to say for sure that implicit biases can be reduced, let alone eliminated. Packaged 'diversity trainings' generally do not use evidence-based methods of reducing implicit biases. Therefore, we encourage people to instead focus on strategies that deny implicit biases the chance to operate, such as blind auditions and well-designed 'structured' decision processes.”

The Test Page

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

My post-test debriefing (some of it is a repeat of the above):

Debriefing

The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You categorized good and bad words with images of Dark Skinned People and Light Skinned People.

Here is your result:

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Light Skinned People over Dark Skinned People.

Your result is described as an "Automatic preference for Dark Skinned People over Light Skinned People" if you were faster responding when Dark Skinned Peopleand Good are assigned to the same response key than when Light Skinned People and Good were classified with the same key. Your score is described as an "Automatic preference for Light Skinned People over Dark Skinned People" if the opposite occurred.

Your automatic preference may be described as "slight", "moderate", "strong", or "no preference". This indicates the strength of your automatic preference.

The IAT requires a certain number of correct responses in order to get results. If you made too many errors while completing the test you will get the feedback that there were too many errors to determine a result.

Note that your IAT result is based only on the categorization task and not on the questions that you answered.

Please answer the following questions about your results:

To what extent did you enjoy trying the IAT? – Not at all / Slightly / Moderately / Very / Extremely

To what extent did the IAT score you received
change your view of yourself? – Not at all / Slightly / Moderately / Very / Extremely

To what extent are you skeptical of the IAT score
that you received?— Not at all / Slightly / Moderately / Very / Extremely

You have completed the study.

Your result:

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Light Skinned People over Dark Skinned People.

The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You categorized good and bad words with images of people who have dark skin and people who have light skin.

Disclaimer: The results are not a definitive assessment of your implicit preference. The results may be influenced by variables related to the test (e.g., the category labels or particular items used to represent the categories on the IAT) or the person (e.g., how tired you are). The results are provided for educational purposes only.

How Does The IAT Work?

The IAT measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., dark skin and light skin) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad). The main idea is that making a response is easier when closely related items share the same response key. We would say that one has an implicit preference for people with dark skin relative to people with light skin if they are faster to categorize words when people with dark skin and Good share a response key relative to when people with light skin and Good share a response key.

Why Should I Care About My IAT Score?

Implicit preferences can predict behavior. Implicit preferences are related to discrimination in hiring and promotion, medical treatment, and decisions related to criminal justice.

What Can I Do About an Implicit Preference That I Do Not Want?

Right now, there is not enough research to say for sure that implicit biases can be reduced, let alone eliminated. Packaged "diversity trainings" generally do not use evidence-based methods of reducing implicit biases. Therefore, we encourage people to instead focus on strategies that deny implicit biases the chance to operate, such as blind auditions and well-designed "structured" decision processes.

What About Order Effects?

One very common question is about the order of the parts of the IAT. The answer is yes, the order in which you take the test can influence on your overall results. But, the effect is very small. So if you first pair people with dark skin + bad and then pair people with dark skin + good, your results might be just a tiny bit more negative toward people with dark skin than they would be if you had done the reverse pairing first. One way that we try to minimize this order effect is by giving more practice trials before the second pairing than we did before the first pairing. It is also important to know that each participant is randomly assigned to an order, so half of test-takers complete people with dark skin + bad and then people with dark skin + good, and the other half of test-takers get the opposite order.

Other People's Results

The summary of other people's results shows that most people implicitly prefer people with light skin over people with dark skin - i.e., they are faster sorting when good words and lighter-skinned images go with the same key. Notably, more than 50% of the people included in this graph report having no preference between these two categories.

Percentage of web respondents with each score.

Strong automatic preference for light skin compared to dark skin – 23%

Moderate automatic preference for light skin compared to dark skin – 28%

Slight automatic preference for light skin compared to dark skin – 17%

Little to no automatic preference between skin tones – 19%

Slight automatic preference for dark skin compared to light skin – 7%

Moderate automatic preference for dark skin compared to light skin – 5%

Strong automatic preference for dark skin compared to light skin – 2%

This distribution summarises 864,463IAT scores for the Sin-tone task completed between April 2004 and December 2015.

Still Have Questions About The IAT?

If you have questions about your IAT performance or score, please consult the links at the top of the page, where you will find answers to frequently asked questions, links to related research, and additional information about implicit associations. You may also email us with questions or comments.

Your Participation . . . is Important!

Thank you again for participating in this research! We have learned so much from people like you taking the time to be part of our work. If you have time, please consider taking another test by clicking the button below.

<snip>

Since establishment in 2005, we have educated more than a million visitors each year about implicit biases concerning race, gender, sexual orientation, and other topics.

<snip>

Has anyone else taken any of the tests?

[Lady tehMa]

I have - I'm finding tnem interesting. I am also finding them a bit frustrating as for some reason they aren't working anymore, pages aren't loading or it hangs. :/

[f/22]

I'm no techie, but I wonder if clearing your cache might help. I've been doing that, as normal, after every few 'games' and haven't had any problems.

[f/22]

And if that doesn’t work, maybe try posting your problem again. Perhaps your name has a more attractive appearance than mine at the bottom of a thread.

[f/22]

Oh duuhuh, of course, here’s a link to tech support.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/c ... /index.jsp

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/c ... x.jsp#faq6

If this doesn’t help please revert to the above instruction.

[Glacier]

The problem is not the left per se, but rather, post modernism.

[f/22]

LOL, talk about your, “ . . . curdled bitterness and seething . . .’ personas, I’ve seen more of that from some of the famous right-wing members here than from the left wing. I had one case that I contacted the mods (and another person) about and could have had investigated for possible liable. I still had the screenshots, the communication records, and people would’ve been required to testify, but with the mods help, I let it drop.

[Glacier]

I'm not sure what you're talking about. In the few months that you've been here, you've had someone spamming or personally attacking your character? I'm sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with the video above?

Postmodernism is a powerful, coherent movement whose members are trying to overthrown the reign of reason and logic, and to sow the seeds of confusion, and is illogical into the Western World. Post-modernist theory is actually just a smoke screen for advancing Marxist propositions. It believes in subjectivism over objectism. Everything is relative. The world is divided between the oppressed and the oppressors, and the post-modernists get to pick who belongs to which group. It's an evil ideology, which might explain way they love Islam so much.

Note that most or a least a large percentage of those on the left are not post-modernists.

[f/22]

The language I quoted comes directly from the video, although it says it's the left wing that uses it when describing the right.

The 'spamming' was a direct attack against me in a thread.