Bias?

[osuche]

Think you're unbiased? Click on the link for this very interesting test. Will take @5 min, but really makes you think. :)

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html

I suggest the race IAT, but several of the others are telling also.

[osuche]

PS: I am trying not to bias you by saying too much, but I've been playing with this for about an hour or so and I think this is one of the most interesting studies I have seen in a very LONG time. Please take a few minutes and look at it. :D

[Loulabelle]

As a 26 year old white person I had a preference for old people and black americans apparently.

Or perhaps I'd just got the hang of the thing once they got onto 'old and good' and 'black and good' since they did that last each time.

Oh well, at least I'm not going with the majority. :)

[Lilith]

That was cool! I sent it to my ESOL and Cross-Cultural teacher! Interesting to do some self analysis of this sort.

[BIBI]

That is so interesting....


I wonder if PF should give it a try......

naw...probably type in the wrong letters :rofl:

[maddy]

It's an interesting study, I'm almost shocked one of the questions doesn't relate to which hand is your dominant hand... I'm not sure it has a great influence, but being right handed, I know my left handed reflexes are slower and since it is measured on time, I almost have to think it has some influence on the results.

[Lilith]

maddy I thought of that as well...it's not entirely accurate in those regards (because we all suffer from pysiological preferences/biases) but is still fascinating.

[MilkToast]

I find it interesting that they tell you what the test often reveals before you take it. While I am not sure it would make much of a difference, I find it odd that they would offer something that might force a bias in the test taker's approach by establishing a preconception.

[LixyChick]

I agree with MilkToast...as much as I didn't want it to enter my mind, I felt compelled to measure up to what had already been disclosed to me! I sat alone, in a quiet room with no distractions...and yet I couldn't help but think of what was already revealed to me in the preface of the test!

I took the test you suggested osuche...and my results were "inconclusive" ( I was too slow and too many errors????????????). I'm figuring this is because I have NEVER been able to judge a book by it's cover...but I KNOW it's done on a daily basis by many around me!

****Your data suggest Inconclusive result - too many errors.
If your result was described as 'inconclusive', click here.

Your result, reported above, is already corrected for the order in which you took the parts of the IAT. If you have a question about the effect of order, please read the answer to FAQ 1 on the page of FAQs for this test.

The interpretation shown above is described as 'automatic preference for Black' if you responded faster when Black faces and Good words were classified with the same key as opposed to White faces and Good words. It is marked 'automatic preference for White' if you were faster when giving the same response to White faces and Good words. Depending on the magnitude of your result, your automatic preference may be described as 'slight', 'moderate', 'strong', or 'little to no preference'.****




I'd be willing to take all the tests...but time is not on my side at the moment.

Very interesting (and a little uncomfortable that someone would want to test this)...none the less!

[PantyFanatic]

Wouldn’t it be marvelous if such uniform evaluations could accurately formulate all the subconscious interaction and products of something we barely have an understanding of just it’s physical functions. :) I don’t believe the millisecond/right-left reaction differential will deliver a definitive classification for any of the 6.4 BILLION :yikes: (10^9) unique individuals from a single focused prospective. :dizzy:

It IS entertaining :D and I admirer the pioneers into such a paradox.:wobble: I’ll be able to even respect them when they become aware of the vastness of this ambiguous, new territory. :eek:

Now if they would add some smilies to the answer options, I could maybe give them more of what they want to see. :)

[osuche]

I think the idea is that you get used to the format of the test. They don't want you going through the test saying "this is stupid...why am I doing it?" They want you to understand the point straight up, and work your hardest on getting the answer "right."

I am currently reading a book, "Blink" (new in the hardcover section of your Barnes & Noble), which describes the phenomenon. The simple interpretation is that our brains are "hardwired" from a young age to associate certain things together....and no amount of understanding how the test works will allow you to circumvent those connections. I am sure this is true (see story below), and yet I continue to find the test disturbing.

Yes, there is potentially a hand bias. That's why they have you switch hands halfway though the test -- white goes from being an "e" to an "i" -- and there is also a bias towards the order of the pairings, which it **claims** they account for. I am not certain the test is perfect, but I do feel it is relatively accurate.

Of the tests I took:
* I am slightly preferential to white people vs. black
* I am moderately biased against homosexuals (and this one bothers me most!)
* I am slightly biased towards overweight people (not against)
* I show NO preference towards Abraham Lincoln vs. George W Bush (this is the one that I question most -- I HATE Pres Bush, but I guess maybe Lincoln isn't real enough to me?)
* I show slight bias towards men being more likely to have a career in the sciences (funny but true...even though I AM a Chemical Engineer)


~~~story~~~
What got me down this line of thinking was that last Sunday I was lazing around home on my couch...working away....when I had someone ring the doorbell. I was wearing my spendex workout outfit (my typical lounging gear) and hesitantly went to the doorway (I *knew* the person could see me through the window). It was a tall black man. I opened the door, palms sweaty and hands shaking, only because I am *polite* and it was the middle of the day.......I was *convinced* this man was up to no good, but I thought I'd yell and scream and be OK (wouldn't have done it if it was late at night or if my neighbor wasn't in his front yard).

The man asked me if this was the OPEN HOUSE (I *do* have a realty sign out). I said no and shut the door, feeling like I'd run a marathon, I'd been so scared.

Then I analyzed what I saw as the man walked down the steps. He was clean-cut, dress-slacks wearing, Starbucks-coffee drinking black man who had scared me. LMAO. I visit open houses looking like a hobo, and this good-looking guy scared me?!?...just cause he is black?

That made me think. Now, I grew up poor white trash in a neighborhood of black people and never felt uncomfortable. I even dated a black guy for a while. And I still had this "hard wired" fear. I know I re-analyze it and try to compensate, but I am sure I'm not always successful.

That's the stuff that makes me feel ashamed of myself. :( And I guess the test confirmed the suspicion.

[maddy]

Interesting osuche, I had a strong bias against black Americans. I was surprised it was strong, but not surprised I had one. I am ashamed of this, but know that it I am a product of my environments and can only do my best to change that. I was raised in an entirely white community in the midwest and did not really interact with black persons until I was in college. Since then my interaction is somewhat limited. I also find that as I grow older and I really don't feel that old at 30, I'm more timid than I was 10 years ago. In 1998 I walked the streets of lower Manhattan alone at about 10 pm (from South Street Seaport to WTC) with no fear, even when I lost my way and had to wander back to a main street. Now I am fearful just going out to my alley to take out trash after dark and I live in a perfectly safe, low crime neighborhood. I don't know what has happened to me to change so drastically, but it's disturbing.

Thanks for mentioning the book, I think I'll take a look at it next time I find myself at BN.

[Loulabelle]

Strange Osuche....if a strange well dressed black man knocked on my door, I'd assume he was a Jehovah's Witness.....and the only reason I'd be sweaty palmed about answering the door to him would be worrying that my house was a mess!

My results show that I'm obviously hardwired differently, but then as Lixy said, knowing the probable outcome of the tests, I'm sure, influenced me to prove them wrong.

Then again, perhaps it's truly a cultural thing....in which case, I'm glad I'm British! :D

[osuche]

Hmmm...I once dated a Jehovah's Witness, and he made me sweaty palmed too. ;) Maybe you have something there, Lou.

Seriously....In this regard, I think you're a better women than me. Clearly.

I am not sure when my fear started to emerge, but I think it's been within the last 10-15 years. There is a "type" of black person running about the streets of COlumbus, that have a BIG chip on their shoulder and are out to hurt people who they perceive as having things they don't have.....these are the people who scare me, and there are some of those in my neighborhood.

It doesn't make it right...I am damned ashamed.....but it's the truth.

[Lilith]

Osuche...are there causcasians or hispanics in Columbus with this same chip? Do they frighten you as well?

[Belial]

Test wouldn't load for me. I'm not sure if it was just waiting for a certain amount of time but after about 3 minutes (and no blinky-lights action on the modem) I gave up. Personally though, I believe that whenever I take a test like this I try my hardest to think about the question and not rush to judgement, to defy whatever "trick" the tester is trying to play on me - from the background, to the font, to the sequencing of questions...

[jseal]

LixyChick,

I can’t be certain, but your results may have been influenced by the speed of your connection. You have, in other posts, commented on the slowness of your modem. As the delta the tests are attempting to catch are measured in milliseconds, the “high ping” of your connection may contribute to your results. MilkToast and Belial may be able to confirm this.

[Belial]

LixyChick,

I can’t be certain, but your results may have been influenced by the speed of your connection. You have, in other posts, commented on the slowness of your modem. As the delta the tests are attempting to catch are measured in milliseconds, the “high ping” of your connection may contribute to your results. MilkToast and Belial may be able to confirm this.

I got the impression (based on the intro screen that actually did download - and my connection is quite reasonable, 512/128kbps ADSL) that the test was executed completely client-side in an embedded applet type of thing, and the delta would be measured on the client side and the recorded values sent to the server for processing. No need for jitter correction :)

At least, that's how *I*'d do it :)

[boilergirl1]

well that was very interesting indeed I am sending it on to my stepsister who is a proffessor at a university in canada she is gay and has done alot of research on social interaction as it pertains to people today she is a published author and really just an over all interesting person.
anyway thanks it was fun too!!

[osuche]

Osuche...are there causcasians or hispanics in Columbus with this same chip? Do they frighten you as well?


Yes, they do. :) But -- honestly -- sometimes my sampling period is longer before I decide they have a chip on their shoulder. That's what saddens me.

[jseal]

...At least, that's how *I*'d do it

Belial,

Fair enough. I saw the load time as most useful for the downloading of the graphics.

[Lilith]

Yes, they do. :) But -- honestly -- sometimes my sampling period is longer before I decide they have a chip on their shoulder. That's what saddens me.
I asked because I wasn't sure if possibly the attitude was more of a issue than the race/ethnicity.

I spoke with my professor today and he has added this as a course requirement for his cross cultural class in the hopes that his students engage in some self relection as it has caused many of us to do. TY Osuche!

[PantyFanatic]

.....I spoke with my professor today and he has added this as a course requirement for his cross cultural class in the hopes that his students engage in some self relection as it has caused many of us to do. TY Osuche!
Is he going to use smilies? :confused:

[osuche]

(((((lilith))))) ~ I am so glad something good came out of me airing my dirty laundry. It *is* an interesting test. :D

[BIBI]

Well I have been taking a few of the tests and each time I am not influenced more one way or another in my bias towards people etc. This of course is not true for of course I have feelings of being biased against things etc.

I just think that I have great eye hand coordination(probably from playing video games lol) and therefore didn't make the expected errors. That or else I am perfect which of course is not the case.

[PantyFanatic]

I think you’re perfect Bibi :x:








(… or will be as soon as you relocate) ;)

[BIBI]

I think you’re perfect Bibi :x:








(… or will be as soon as you relocate) ;)
awww.......... :x:

[Loulabelle]

Hmmm...I once dated a Jehovah's Witness, and he made me sweaty palmed too. ;) Maybe you have something there, Lou.

Seriously....In this regard, I think you're a better women than me. Clearly.

I am not sure when my fear started to emerge, but I think it's been within the last 10-15 years. There is a "type" of black person running about the streets of COlumbus, that have a BIG chip on their shoulder and are out to hurt people who they perceive as having things they don't have.....these are the people who scare me, and there are some of those in my neighborhood.

It doesn't make it right...I am damned ashamed.....but it's the truth.

(((((((Osuche))))))))

I wasn't suggesting that I'm a better person than anyone, just that I'm pleased that I've been brought up in a cultural environment which I assume is what prevents me from falling into the 'expected' patterns of behaviour, as described in these tests.

However, perhaps it's not even my culture....having read about psychometric testing during my degree course, I'm very sceptical about these kind of things, and I know they can be easily foiled.

For me, it was a case of overriding what my reactions had learned from the first bit of the test, so that when black and white switched sides, I re-learned that while before black and bad were synonymous, now black and good were. How did I do this....a simple little memory trick to form a new association in my mind to keep me on track - I visualised Morgan Freeman playing the part of God in 'Bruce Almighty', therefore creating a very simple mental link that black=good. Keeping that in mind probably helped me to stay focussed on the fact that there had been a change. I use little 'concept association' tricks like that when I'm acting to help me remember lines too. :D

[Oldfart]

If Columbus is anything like Darwin, there are dis-satisfied people of all racial groups

who feel they have the right to "graze" on their economically better off neighbours (also of all racial groups).

[jseal]

Gentlefolk,

I tested out with a slight bias in favor of blacks and old people.

Reading back through the thread, the posts seemed to correlate with what seem to be to be the social norms of our respective youths. I wonder if this test is illuminating something similar to what I’ve read about imprinting in very young animals?