For the IAT I decided to do the gender career, sexuality and weapons tests. I was very surprised by the results of the tests. Personally I was not aware of some of the biases/ prejudices that the results said that I might be prone to. This activity is very good to do at the beginning of this class because it really opens people’s eyes to biases that they might have.
Many people immediately when asked the questions of having prejudices would say no because they know that it is socially unacceptable. Having prejudices has a very negative connotation; people do not want to be considered racist or sexist. If we do not know that we have these prejudices toward certain groups of people we can never learn to change our mentality and will continue on ignoring and being ignorant towards it.
Of the three tests that I took all three said that I had a bias toward one group over another. For example the weapons test said that I had a “Strong association of Blacks with weapons.” Personally if you would have ever asked me this I would have considered myself neutral on the issue. The tutorial pointed out however many of the biases that we may come from the media or the values and morals we were brought up around when we were younger. When you’re watching the TV the majority of the time the people that they portray as gang members or criminals are black males. This may subconsciously being putting the association into our minds.
The tutorial also mentioned that one of the other major outlets for hidden prejudices come from when you’re young. Your parents and teachers begin instilling in you a certain set of ideas. These ideas are hard to go against even when you know that some of them are prejudice.
These hidden biases may lead to discrimination. In order to stop this we first need to acknowledge that these are present. Taking these tests is one way that this can be achieved.