Torcatos, Stephanie, Mae M.

STEM 12-16

Implicit Association Tests

PROJECT IMPLICIT: SOCIAL ATTITUDES (on race, gender and sexual orientation)

I. The sorting test you completed in this study is called the four corners task, or the Sorting
Paired Features task (SPF). You categorized pairs of items (a word and a photo) to pairs of
categories.

Here is your result: Your data suggest an equal automatic association of Men and Women with
Emotional and Rational.

II. Gender-Science IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test
(IAT). You categorized Male and Female words with Science and Liberal Arts.

Here is your result: Your data suggest a moderate automatic association for Male with Liberal
Arts and Female with Science.

III. Gender-Career IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test
(IAT). You categorized Male and Female words with Career and Family.

Here is your result: Your data suggest little or no automatic association between Female and
Male with Career and Family.

IV. Religion IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You
categorized good and bad words with words and images of Islam and Christianity.

Here is your result: Your data suggest no automatic preference between Islam and
Christianity.

V. Sexuality IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You
categorized Good and Bad words with Straight people and Gay people.

Here is your result: Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Straight people
over Gay people.

VI. Arab-Muslim IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
You categorized words of Good and Bad with words of Arab Muslims and Other People.

Here is your result: There were not enough trials to determine a result.
VII. Asian IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You
categorized American and Foreign images with European American and Asian American.

Here is your result: Your data suggest a slight automatic association for American with
European American and Foreign with Asian American.

VIII. Race IAT. The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You
categorized good and bad words with images of African Americans and European Americans.

Here is your result: Your data suggest no automatic preference between African Americans
and European Americans.

IX. Skin-tone IAT. 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 slight automatic preference for Dark Skinned People
over Light Skinned People.
Reflection

Project Implicit was created by psychologists at Harvard, University of Virginia, and

University of Washington to develop Hidden Bias Tests called Implicit Association Tests (IAT’s)
to measure unconscious bias. The roots of stereotypes and prejudice in our society can be
found by the Hidden Bias Test. This test on social attributes examined my possible biases when
it comes to race, gender, and sexual orientation. Besides on the SPF, other tests on the guest
page include Gender-Science IAT, Gender-Career IAT, Religion IAT, Sexuality IAT, Arab-Muslim
IAT, Asian IAT, Race IAT and Skin-tone IAT.

According to Project Implicit, “The SPF measures the strength of associations between
concepts (e.g., 'Rational', 'Emotional') and attributes (e.g., 'Men', 'Women'). The main idea is
that making a response is easier when closely related items are presented together. We would
say that one has an implicit association of 'Emotional' with 'Men' and 'Rational' with 'Women' if
they are faster categorizing pairs of 'Emotional' words with 'Men' photos and pairs of 'Rational'
words with 'Women' photos, than categorizing pairs of 'Rational' words with 'Men' photos and
pairs of 'Emotional' words with 'Women' photos.
Implicit associations can sometimes influence judgment and behavior very quickly, perhaps
even without awareness.
Any single SPF is unlikely to predict behavior well for a specific individual. In the aggregate, the
SPF can predict behavior such as discrimination in hiring and promotion, medical treatment, and
decisions related to criminal justice. Our goal in this study is to test whether implicit associations
about politics or gender are related to people's self-reported attitudes about gender. The
questionnaires you completed measures attitudes about gender. We are testing whether self-
reported attitudes about gender are related to people's implicit association of 'Emotional' and
'Rational' with 'Men' and 'Women'.”

On Gender-Science IAT, “Your result is described as an "Automatic association for Male

with Science and Female with Liberal Arts" if you were faster responding when Science and
Male are assigned to the same response key than when Science and Female were classified
with the same key. Your score is described as an "Automatic association for Female with
Science and Male with Liberal Arts 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.” Other IAT’s suggest the same about the association of categories.

All test results says that if I were faster at associating a specific category to another
category in which they are presented together, this will determine the result of my implicit
association.

On Sorting Paired Feature Task (SPF) and other IAT’s, as I categorize people and
answer questions based on social and other characteristics, it gave me the feeling of being a
stereotype, prejudice, and eventually leading to discrimination.
 According to tolerance.org, stereotype is an exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth
about a person or group. This means that you are generalizing people based on such as their
appearance, race, and gender. Mass media greatly influences our human mind when it comes
to stereotyping. Television shows showing men are strong and women are weak, girls are clean
and pleasant while men are messy and unclean, Arabs and Muslims are terrorists, are some of
the stereotypes we often see. From the test I have answered, there were questions that suggest
gender stereotyping. Some of the statements are “Women have loud voices” and “Men should
sacrifice to provide for women”. In the first statement “Women have loud voices”, this
generalizes that all women are loud. From my opinion, not all women are loud. Maybe some
are, but not all women. Also in the second statement, it is not always the man who sacrifices in
order to provide. And so in the two statements, I slightly agree and disagree, respectively.

A prejudice is an opinion, prejudgment or attitude about a group or its individual

members. It can be positive or negative. But in this topic, prejudice refers to a negative attitude.
Prejudices are often accompanied by ignorance, fear or hatred. It is formed by a complex
psychological process that begins with attachment to a close circle of acquaintances or an "in-
group" such as a family. Prejudice is often aimed at "out-groups." In simple terms, prejudice is a
feeling on a certain group or individual that maybe influenced from what group you are from that
may start from an early age. For example the Philippines and the three countries who colonized
us. Let’s say we Filipinos are the in-group and the three countries are the out-groups. When we
socialize with Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese, there is this feeling of fear, hatred and
inferiority. But since that was years ago, and they are not the same people of those times, we
neglect that feeling and rather understand our differences. Those feelings that arise should not
be perpetuated. We can tolerate them by thinking first and foremost. From the test I have
answered, there is statement that says that on average, a woman is more likely to feel and
assume sexual harassment if the man is unattractive. From the given choices, I answered
disagree. But before answering “disagree”, as a woman, there is this feeling that it may be true
since most likely those that have been arrested and reported in the news were unpleasant and
have drug user-like appearance. But on the other hand, there also cases of some famous
personalities who have reported to commit sexual harassment. And so my unconscious bias has
been again tolerated.

Stereotypes can be the roots of prejudice and both of this can lead to discrimination.
This discrimination is the result of our belief and feeling on a certain person or group.
Stereotype and prejudice are both the source of our hidden biases. These can influence us on
how to we think and treat the people surrounding us. The first step of treatment is to start
influencing good values and beliefs at an early age. Children must be surrounded by the people
who can help them to be open-minded when it comes to differences. Parents, teachers, faith
leaders and other community leaders can help cue that equality matters. Also according to
Gordon Allport, living in a home full of support and love give children the feeling of being
welcomed, loved, accepted, no matter what they do. As children become open to anything
different, they can think positively on any people passing by. An example is my test and result
on Sexuality IAT. Although I have moderate preference for straight people over gay people, it
does not mean that I don’t like gay people. In fact I love gay people as friends since they are fun
to be with. I think my results suggest that when it comes to intimate relationships since I am
straight, I would obviously prefer a straight man. Thus, whether a different race or sexuality, as
long as they have good personality, I will welcome them open arms. On the other hand, another
step is recognizing our hidden biases. Although we are consciously committed to egalitarianism,
hidden biases are most likely to be possessed by all. These hidden biases can be prevented
and suppressed by committing to change. Our hidden biases could be corrected when
discovered by ourselves. This is the purpose of simulating these tests. As you take the tests
there is this feeling in which this pertains to our hidden prejudices. As I have said earlier, as I
took the tests, I have been thinking twice. These force out our hidden biases into the conscious
part of our mind. And so, by understanding the diversity of people, rectifying our hidden biases
is possible.