Am I a racist? Are you?

7/18/2011 2:22 PM EDT

There are very few books that give you so much to think about. I rate Malcolm's books right up at the top of the pile...

7/18/2011 2:55 PM EDT

Hi Max - I gave it a try. My result was a "slight preference" for European-American Whites.

As a woman working in technology, I thought it would be interesting to take the "Gender-Career IAT" - my result: a slight association of Female with Career and Male with Family compared to Male with Career and Female with Family.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. Very thought provoking.

Hope you're having a great summer Max.

Your friend in CA, Frances

7/20/2011 12:26 PM EDT

Max, interesting that among other topics covered included were political affiliation and complex relations among races in other nations too.
My political neutrality was detected as little identification with either of the major parties in USA.
In the other hand, I have European (Spanish roots) and the results of slight negative bias against European and slight positive bias for “mestizo” race (European & Indigenous procreation) surprised me. It made me self conscious of my perceived ideas. I never would assume that my unconscious mind had a different agenda!...LoL

Thanks for your insight

7/21/2011 2:11 AM EDT

I thought I slightly prefer Europeans to Africa-Americans but the test result says:

Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between African American and European American.

7/21/2011 3:11 AM EDT

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7/21/2011 9:25 AM EDT

As an African-American, the general results do not surprise me. Since the definition of the word "racist" is understood to be a negative one, I think the key to apreciating this survey is understanding the difference between having ethnocentric preferences and "racism" or racial prejudice. Although the following is my opinion, I think it's based upon fact...not to mention the life experiances of me and many of my associates of African descent.

1.Racial prejudice and/or being a racist is a negative, and oppressive mentality...that eventually is made manifest in ones behavior toward a human being or group of human beings that are the object of this racism or racial prejudice.
2. If ones "preference" for a certain ethnic group does not cause them to attempt to restrict the opportunity and/or fair treatment of other groups in a cultural, economic, political,social, or physical manner...then it's not a "racist" preference.

Example: most Jewish people I know are encouraged, from their youth, to fall in love with and marry other Jewish people. This "preference" doesn't require them to hate, or restrict the opportunity of others, so in my book, it's not racial prejudice or "racism". It's a preference to be intimate with ones own cultral/ethnic group.

3. We must aknowledge that America, though an ethnic "melting pot" is a culturally Eurocentric nation, with significant elements of racism still present within it.

4. Using #3 (Euro-American culture)as an example of ethnic/race ralations, separating racism from cultural preference falls back to how well we respect other cultural groups right to
(A) determine to what extent(if any) certain ethic groups assimilate into Euro-American cultral norms.
(B)Maintain their cultural norms

I could go on and on, but I think we all get the idea here. Mutual respect of other ethnic groups right to self-determaning behavior is the key to reducing (preferably eliminating) racist attidues.

My two sents.

SB,
Florida

7/21/2011 12:50 PM EDT

As a person of "Heinz-57" race (significantly mixed background) as my Mother was fond of calling it, I often wonder also about the biases of people creating these tests. My Father was a college professor, and made a point of conveying that the results of any test are at least as much dependent on the way a test was written as they are the material covered in the test. He once demonstrated this by testing two classes taking the same course by two test that asked for the same answers but in different ways, with the class averages for the two tests (in Physics) being different by more than 20 percentage points.

7/22/2011 10:34 AM EDT

Thanks for the link, Max. Thanks for the thoughtful response(s), SB and others. I appreciate my first exposure to this process. They have sought to uncover a deeper layer of our operational psyche (system software, so to speak). Their trick is to create a perceptual tongue-twister and average where we "screw up".

In other words, I imagine very few "racist and proud of it" people take this test. So probably, a majority of test takers *don't want to be racist*. That would include myself. When we make racist associations, it is against our better judgement and we consider it a mistake. The tests asks us flat out how we feel, then, assuming we don't want to make racist associations, grades our mistakes, accordingly.
I believe the red X's mark the times when "I wanted to say 'black-good' but something kept me from hitting the right key." This is, indeed an interesting find.
But seriously, there are other reasons for making mistakes. For instance, personally, I rate "not being a racist" higher than I rate "finishing first in a speed test". So I went slow enough to get things right. I missed a few, but my score (no preference) made me happy. I can imagine someone who is not a racist and is consciously comfortable with that position, but has a need for speed. Or perhaps they are clumsy at tongue twisters. Or any shades of these or other factors that would generate errors. You can see how that might skew a result or two.
Bottom line, understanding how we think *and act* is the road to freedom - and this test is an amazing thing to find along that road - Thanx, Max and Malcolm and Harvard!

7/22/2011 1:16 PM EDT

I have read and very much enjoyed "The Tipping Point". An excellent read that was very thought provoking. I have not taken the tests but would expect that I have a preference my my own mixed but basically white race, it stands to reason. I have not experienced racism first hand but wonder how it continues to propagate in America?

7/22/2011 10:25 PM EDT

If such a test were created today, in what ways would it be similar and in what ways would it be different from the original tests?

Certainly our culture and workplaces have changed. At my last job, there was an African American lady doing board layout, an Indian, a Chinese, and a Russian lady doing test (masters degree qualifications), and a Ukranian lady doing mechanical design. There was a Chinese gentleman doing DSP work. In a 250 employee building, there was quite a mix of nationalities! I think it can be said that if you have a good set of skills and a work ethic, there is a good chance you will be hired. The candidate will be chosen by skills, not by race, just like the design engineer selects the best component (Okay, and then sometimes Purchasing gets upset because the engineer picked a part with a 52 week lead time, lol).

We have made a lot of progress.

7/23/2011 7:35 PM EDT

Max, you always find interesting stuff. How do you find the time for all you do?

I think the test was interesting. Of course, it's simplistic as all standardized tests for this kind of thing are. Associating a person one way or the other doesn't tell whether you would cheat that person or discriminate. Fortunately we humans have the ability to overcome our prejudices.

Also, a problem with this test, as with many tests from academia, is that there are no controls. There's nothing to compare against, so any result it comes up with is deemed true by definition. Perhaps the actual studies were more rigorous.

I want to commend poster RB for a really thoughtful and intelligent analysis. People, like all living beings, tend to want to congregate with their own kind. Changing that will require changing millennia of evolution. We should expect to be able to equalize people's opportunities through education and legislation, but we shouldn't be trying to change their social preferences.

Again, thanks for a thought-provoking article.

7/27/2011 3:24 PM EDT

My thoughts on this test are that it is bogus. It very much depends on how it is ordered. For me, I get used to using my left hand for European-Americans and for good so it's difficult for me to switch that when the columns are switched. I would like to see whether the results, not just for me, would change if the first association was randomly changed.

My result was a strong preference for European-American whites, which I don't think is true.

Like Frances, I'm a woman working in technology and I also decided to take the "Gender-Career IAT". However, my result was that due to taking longer on certain responses, I supposedly have a slight association of Male with Career and Female with Family compared to Female with Career and Male with Family! I REALLY don't believe that result!

7/27/2011 4:25 PM EDT

Having just taken the IATs, yes, halfway through they swap the hands and associations. In fact, that's how they score the test.

7/27/2011 4:44 PM EDT

Oh, by the way, I went back and did the racial IAT again, just to see whether I could do better at manipulating it(!!). My result was a slight preference for European-Americans, which is what I consciously believe is the truth.

8/3/2011 11:41 AM EDT

@Max, I think your result would be in the majority. It's all about the dominant culture and race of the time. Who knows? in a century or so when China rule the world, test results of Max VI would show a slight preference for Asians!