Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I know I shouldn't have, but it was irresistible. I tried the Project Implicit test, the one that's supposed to reveal your secret racial preferences. It seems I have them, but not in the way you'd guess:
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You have completed the Light Skin - Dark Skin IAT.
Your Result:
Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Dark Skin compared to Light Skin.
Thank you for your participation. Just below is a breakdown of the scores generated by others. Most respondents find it easier to associate Dark Skin with Bad and Light Skin with Good compared to the reverse.
Huh. How do you explain this? Do you think it's just that I've been living for a long time in a country where most people are more dark-skinned than me? Or is it something else?
I sure didn't think I was in any way unusual like this.
I guess I'm glad that I have scientific proof that I'm not a racist, but something in me says the test is flawed--can't put my finger on what it is--can you?
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Comments:
Dec '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
Wouldnt a preference for dark skinned people mean you have a bias against light skinned people?
Oct '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
A bias for one group over another, based solely on skin color, no matter the color, is by definition racist. No? Well, if you're the Holder Justice Department, no, obviously.
Mar '12
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
The web address harvard.edu tells you why the test is flawed. Note the disclaimer.
Apr '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
First of all, congratulations, and secondly, like Albert, I think the test itself is racist or maybe colorist, a new word I just learned.
Mar '12
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
Check out these instructions on the President IAT (emphasis added)
AN incredibly stupid test, perhaps more a propaganda effort than a true study.
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
But you're not in America (are you?). So perhaps you're the least racist woman in Turkey.
Mar '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
If this is true, why do so many Light skinned people spend so much time tanning?
Aug '10
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I totally think NASCAR is better than F1. Racism.
Aug '10
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
Casey
If this is true, why do so many Light skinned people spend so much time tanning?
They want to be spared when the revolution comes.
Oct '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
The test provide strong evidence that I am a racist and have ''strong preference for white people'' ... I knew all that love for my mom was thinly disguised racism towards her.
What made me laugh was the option to answer the question of ''what prevented you to take the test more objectively'' with ''my unconscious knowledge about the topics''. How can you know what is unconsciously in your mind without making it conscious ?
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 8:11pmRe: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
The test begins by training the naive user to select light-equals-good and dark-equals-bad. Only then is the subject asked to reverse the just-learned association. Persistence of the initial pattern is then taken as evidence of an automatic racial preference, when in it is nothing more than training bias.
Why don't the authors invert the initial sequence so that a naive subject learns dark-equals-good finger twitches before reversing the association?
Apr '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I took the test and I have a slight white preference. I found the switching of the good and bad from right to left a bit disorienting...especially for the words...really think that is what hurt me..in properly matching up the scores...but I only missed I think 3 maybe 4 in the whole test.
I think that part of the test that could be a flaw is game conditioning. So they train you to do things a certain way, and then change the rules on you. Some people are less good at adapting to these kinds of changes in a reflex and perception based test. I wonder if people who read slower do very poorly and make more mistakes. I also wonder if I would have had a slight black preference if they had switched the original association. during the training phase.
Jan '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
George Savage: The test begins by training the naive user to select light-equals-good and dark-equals-bad. Only then is the subject asked to reverse the just-learned association. Persistence of the initial pattern is then taken as evidence of an automatic racial preference, when in it is nothing more than training bias.
Why don't the authors invert the initial sequence so that a naive subject learns dark-equals-good finger twitches before reversing the association? · 6 minutes ago
Exactly - the program itself first trained me to associate words and colors with left and right. Then it switched one. The first time I had no left/right preference, the second time I had to fight the left/right association they trained me for. Unless they alternate the orderings for different subjects, or do something else to control for this, the statistics they get don't mean much.
Sep '10
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
Racism aint no one-way street.
Feb '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I seem to have an implicit preference for black people...this is not what I expected, to quote a former black co-worker "you're the whitest guy I know"...what does this prove - absolutely nothing, what an idiotic assessment.
Aug '10
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
George Savage: The test begins by training the naive user to select light-equals-good and dark-equals-bad. Only then is the subject asked to reverse the just-learned association. Persistence of the initial pattern is then taken as evidence of an automatic racial preference, when in it is nothing more than training bias.
Why don't the authors invert the initial sequence so that a naive subject learns dark-equals-good finger twitches before reversing the association?
The FAQ claims that the ordering is randomized for each test.
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I took the race one and came out with a slight preference for African-Americans over European-Americans. I was also skeptical. I would not have been as skeptical, oddly, if the test had indicated no preference or a slight preference for European-Americans (just because I'm in that category, I guess). I would have an even harder time buying a "strong preference" in either direction.
I do find the test interesting, though. One thing is that it encourages you to focus on race. I'm in an area where I interact with people of all different skin colors. Until last year, I'd spent about 15 years in predominantly black neighborhoods. Not sure if that has anything to do with my supposed preference.
May '10
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
Once again, my eternal thanks to John Derbyshire for leading us by the nose into such tomfoolery. The whole Derbyshire dog-and-pony show makes Eddie Murphy's and Joe Piscipo's SNL parody of "Ebony and Ivory" appear downright edifying. Here's hoping Sarah Palin moves to San Francisco and tries to wed Barbara Boxer in a ceremony officiated by Jerry Falwell and Rowan Williams so we can discuss something else.
Oct '10
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I took the Skin Tone IAT and came out with a strong preference for white. But then I took the White-Asian IAT and came out with a strong preference for Asian. Perhaps having lived in Japan as a child some thirty years ago has something to do with it. Or perhaps I'm the Derb reincarnated. ;-)
Feb '11
Re: Seems I'm the Least Racist White Woman in America
I took that test and hated it. I don't like classifying people based on skin tone. The test does, as Mollie says, encourage classification on race. I tried several times to put the men or the women together, but it wouldn't let me. Also, several of the questions at the end were of the decline to answer variety. It scored me with a moderate preference for dark-skinned people, but I hate the whole racial thing. I am one of those who put "American" down on their census questions, or decline to answer. Ick. I'm sorry I took it.