POB Blog: IAT

After trying (and failing) to come up with a good, new idea for breaking a social norm, I decided instead to take the IATs, which turned out to be very interesting. Before I read about them, I was a little fuzzy on how the Implicit Associates Tests worked. The IATs measure associations we are unconscious of making by recording the speed with which we pair certain things. For example, in the test measuring preference for light-skinned or dark-skinned people, the word good and a picture of a light-skinned person appear on one side of the screen, and the word bad and a picture of a dark-skinned person appear on the other side. In one section of the test the subject is required to associate the word that pops up in the middle (which is a word associated with either good or bad) with one of the two groups. In the next section of the test the groups are switched and the word good is paired with the dark-skinned person while the word bad is paired with the light-skinned person. The subject is asked to complete the same task and the speed with which these associations are made is compared to the speed of the first task. The pairing that facilitated quicker and more accurate associations indicates preference. For example, if the subject more quickly made correct associations when the word good was paired with the dark-skinned person than it must be easier for the subject to draw a connection between these two, which demonstrates an implicit preference for dark-skinned people.

I took two IATs: one measuring preference for dark-skinned or light skinned people, and one measuring association between gender and family. My conscious preferences in both cases go against the values of my background. I took these tests because I wanted to prove to myself that I really am as unaffected by my surroundings as I like to think I am. While I grew up in Texas, surrounded by white people, and to be perfectly honest, a fair amount of racism, I not only do not consider myself racist but I actually prefer other ethnicities. I love latin culture: the food, the music, the art, the dancing, the language, the travelling, the drinks, the closeness of families, the traditions, the architecture, the men... In fact, I would say I enjoy the latin culture so much that I try as hard as possible to make myself part of it and to make it part of me. There is no getting around my irish heritage, but hair dye, time in the sun, and lots of spanish classes are helping some. Basically I figured, of course I prefer dark-skinned people to light-skinned people. There was a similar situation with the career-gender test. Ask any of my friends, I am destined to be the career woman who willingly gives up having a family to chase a high-power career. Not to say that there is anything wrong with wanting nothing more than to raise a family- I fully respect that desire, I just have no ability to understand or relate to it. The very thought makes me nervous. I frequently express my frustration with the number of young women concerned with finding a husband and starting a family before they even have a basic understanding of who they are or what they want out of life. I do think that there are some women, who after careful consideration, decide that having a family is what makes them most happy. But, I will not dissuaded from thinking that most (young) women so actively pursue having a family in an effort to avoid self examination. So needless to say, I assumed that I make a strong connection between women and careers, because I place so much personal importance on that relationship. Again, I took this IAT as a way of reassuring myself that a career really is extremely important to me, and because of this implicit drive, I will pursue my current goals no matter what obstacles I encounter.

Too bad I was completely wrong. The first test showed that I have a strong preference for light-skinned people and the second that I make a moderate association between males and career and females and family. Needless to say I was very surprised and disappointed. Actually, I made these discoveries as I was taking the tests. I could feel myself struggling more sorting the words when good was paired with the dark-skinned person than with the light-skinned person. I the gender-career test I had a much easier time sorting the words when family and female were paired and career and male were paired than when family and male were paired and career and female were paired. I could feel myself taking longer to make the connection and found it extremely frustrating because my preferences are opposite to what my implicit associations seem to be. I was very surprised to see that I have apperently adopted the same implicit tendencies that I disapprove of in others. To my conscious mind, it seems strange that one should prefer one shade of skin or one purpose per gender. Furthermore, if we do have preferences, mine are exactly opposite of these inherent associations. This made me think about my preferences and where they come from. I guess I always assumed that my preference for a career in my own life and my personal attraction toward darker skin meant that I approached them differently from the rest of society. Many people draw connections between females and family and males and careers because of gender role schemas. I thought that because I find females pursuing careers more appealing that I saw a different connection and was somehow immune to the effects of gender role schemas. Now that I know that I was wrong and that I actually do make the same connections as the rest of society I think that perhaps I am attracted to a career and to darker skin because it is not what people typically choose. I have a tendency to be less attracted to things that many other people are drawn to. What is interesting to me though is that despite my attraction I still make subconscious connections that are similar to connections everyone else is making.

This experience changes my understanding of stereotyping and prejudice. Because I was raised in a society where (no matter how prevelant it may be in certain obscure regions) racism is considered wrong and injust. I perceive making any distinction between people based on differences such as gender or race to be prejudicial and discriminatory. However I now see that making these connections may not be discriminatory but an example of ingroup favortism, which describes our tendency to show preference to members of our own group, (Capozza & Brown, 2000). This may explain why I, a light-skinned person, showed preference to other light-skinned people. I now see that noticing differences may not indicate prejudice or racism, but simply be a neutral human tendency. After reflecting about this I took the skin color test again and tried my hardest to answer oppositely. However, because you must give your first reaction and go very quickly, it is difficult to override your implicit reaction. This confirmed for me that the tests are very effective measure of implicit attitudes and that I really do prefer light-skinned people. Finally, to be perfectly honest, I wonder if I am not affected by the confirmation bias, the interpretation of data in a way that confirms pre-existing notions (Kassin, 120). I began this activity assuming that my scores would come out one way. When I was proven wrong, I found a way to explain them in a way that supported my belief that I am not racist or sexist. I wonder if my interpretations are accurate or if I am being influenced by the confirmation bias.


Capozza, D., & Brown, R. (2000). Social identity processes: Trends in theory and research. London: Sage.

Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2008). Social psychology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.