IAT

I took the test on race, where the results said that I was moderately in favor of African Americans over European Americans. My expectations of the test were very different. I thought that because the test was based on the science of psychology that it would have random images other than just faces. Once before I took a test on negative and positive associations and the variety made the test more interesting.

I find that the result were probably very accurate, but still a bit surprising. Growing up in a predominantly white environment all my life (church, school, extracurricular activities), I was always intensely acclimated to that culture or lifestyle except for my home and family life. In no way would I say I am racist, but when I finally was allowed to attend public school, I gravitated toward people who looked like me.

During the IAT, I must admit that I was very focused and concentrated on answering accurately. I noticed that as it got more complicated and descriptions were combined, I had trouble associating my own race with bad things. This did not make it easier to do for European Americans but by default I answered incorrectly for some of those as well. Interestingly, it was more difficult to answer the questions at the end because it was more of the processing from the exercise which may have come too quickly.