First they gave us JFK, then Mark Zuckerberg, and now the IAT. Yesterday in the Computer Lab you took part in Harvard's IAT Race Test - please address the following questions...1) Do you think the information the IAT gave you about yourself is accurate? 2) What ways could the test be improved in your opinion?
04 November 2010
Race and the IAT...
First they gave us JFK, then Mark Zuckerberg, and now the IAT. Yesterday in the Computer Lab you took part in Harvard's IAT Race Test - please address the following questions...1) Do you think the information the IAT gave you about yourself is accurate? 2) What ways could the test be improved in your opinion?
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I feel like the IAT test was a very interesting test, however, I don't necessarily believe that it is a very accurate test. I think that the results that the test gave me, were somewhat accurate but slightly wrong, and i believe that's because i am right handed and was more pron to tapping the keyboard with my right hand. It's just a quicker reflex. Also i think that when i learned that categories one way, and then they were all switched up on me, it really confused me. And i guess that kind of the point of the test but i don't really understand how that simple test of tapping keys on the computer could tell you anything about they way you feel about African, and European Americans. And hopefully i didn't make any spelling errors this time Mr. B! :)
I don’t think the IAT test gave me an accurate result. I think it is because I am right handed and that played a major role in the result of the test. Also the words and the people kept switching sides, so I could not go fast and that also made it difficult. I think they should have the same test for both left and right handed people. Then the test can give you a more accurate result.
I don't feel like the IAT test gave me accurate results. Agreeing with Hailey and Timith, I question why the results are based on how we press keys. I had trouble with the test when they switched sides, i had become so used to what I was doing at first that when it changed I kept messing up. I am left handed but found that I was constantly going to press the keys with my right hand. The results don't accuratly depict my views on African and European Americans and I wouldn't want to be judged based on what this test says.
In my opinion I don’t believe the IAT test gave me an accurate result. Let me explain, I thought the test was interesting but when they put a race and the word bad together I would hesitate to sort the pictures because even though I was only matching the picture with the race I felt like I was also saying that race was bad. Another reason I hesitated was because I spent so long studying the pictures to make sure I was not going to guess the race of the person incorrectly. One thing I believe that would have improved the test is putting the pictures in color so people don’t have to hesitate as much on sorting because your having a hard time telling what race someone is.
I don’t think that the results from the IAT test were extremely accurate for me. I do believe that they way I completed the test did give me the correct results but the results don’t reflect they way that I think about people. I think that they way that the tasks were group caused me to get used to a certain order and then when it changed it I was still thinking the other way. I would be interested to take the test again if it came up the other way and see if the results stay the same. In my opinion the test could be improved by changing the order that things are presented to you and the order that you need to press buttons.
The IAT test is supposed to tell someone whether they are racist or not. I do not think that this test accurately depicts this. I have taken a test similar to this one when I had my concussion. It can be inaccurate because due to your dominate hand having faster reflexes. The order of the test can simply just be confusing. I found myself very confused at various parts and it took me a couple tries to understand what was going on. The test could be improved by the keys that are needed to be pressed during the test. For example, use the O and P keys instead of the E and I this way you would still use the same hand. You could also change the sequence that the test is in. Instead of starting off with the easy test start off with the hard/more confusing one and make it easier through out the test.
I do believe that the IAT test was very accurate. I was curious to see what my preference between whites and blacks was, since I am mixed. Taking the test, I agreed with the information it gave about myself. Although some people think the right hand/left hand difference is a problem, there really is no other way to get the right information. The whole point of the categories being switched is to see how fast/slow you put one thing in a category of good or bad. Changing anything about the test would obviously change the outcome. It has to stay the same (switching categories from right to left and blacks to good, whites to bad and vice versa) or else the information given will not be valid. The sides have to be switched in order to actually get a preference between whites and blacks.
Unfortunately, I believe that the IAT test was accurate on determining people's subconscious tendencies towards racism. My results were that I had strong subconscious feelings that favored white people vs. black people. I think this is true because growing up as a student in Newington there were not very many African Americans around so I was never mentored in that area. One way i would like to improve this test is to have the picture and words appear bigger on the screen. I think that if the tester can view a bigger screen and seem more black or white will give everyone better results on which side they favor.
I believe that the race IAT was fairly accurate for me. i think that for most people, if they really take it seriously and think about their answers the end result will be correct. A way that i think people could improve this test is maybe creating the test using the mouse where you have to quickly drag the word or picture to the correct categories. This way people cannot use the right-hand left-hand defense. Another reason why i think that the test is accurate is because usually if someone takes it again they'll get a similar, or the same answer, and every test is different.
I do not think that the IAT gave me accurate results. I do not feel I favor one group over the other. The way in which the categories were presented and the speed in which you were expected to complete the test made me feel frustrated and confused. I also believe that making mistakes and whether you are right versus left handed may have effected the results. I do not think that this test truly measures your subconscious feelings about European vs. African Americans. I think maybe this test can be improved by slowing down the speed and presenting or ordering things in a different way.
The test I thought was interesting. I think the information that the test gave about myself was inaccurate. Then again I'm not going to argue with the results beause that will lead into lots of people arguing about theirs and it will just be non stop arguements. People either like their results or they don't. I'm sure there are things peiple could say to try to improve the test but in my opinion there is nothing to change.
The test surprised me. i would never have guessed it to group me the way it did. I found it to be somewhat accurate, however, that could be my lack of self-awareness decieving me. Whatever the case, I still strive to be a tolerant person toward others. The test itself could be a little better. instead of firing at such a quick pace, as my right hand is dominant and therefore prone to respond on the keyboard first, it could be more question based than category based.
I believe that the IAT test was pretty accurate on deciding peoples results. It's supposed to see how long it takes for you to place a group, and at certain times it took my longer to place people. I think this is because of the area that I, and others have grown up in and the media around us. I slightly agree with CrystalRose on the changing the keys to O and P to see if it would differ your results.
In my opinion the IAT test was accurate to a certain degree. I'm not necessarily racist, however I feel that I am a little biased to a certain degree (as bad as that sounds). In addition to this, improvements could be made. For example, I'm right handed where I can obviously tap the keyboard faster, opposed to using my left hand. Therefore, I was in a state of confusion when the test would make me switch hands and such which ultimately could have altered my results.
I think that the IAT test was a good test to try to test your understanding on race but I think it was kind of inaccurate. I feel that it was innacurate because there were many factors that could have messed up th results. For example if people are right handed then they would be more used to clicking the right side. Also the fact that people were timed could have made them panic and hit the wrong key. To improve this test I think more challenges should be added so you can get a more accurate answer.
The Implicit Association Test definitely broadened my perspective on race and ethnicity. This test plays a role in our beliefs and behavior. This means that our attitudes toward things like race or gender operate on two levels. This is what we chose to believe. This test also measures our second level of attitude or our racial attitude on an unconscious level. I believe that this test was pretty accurate. When I finished the test, it showed me that I received a slightly automatic preference for European Americans. No matter what people say, there is a reason why you got the results that you did. And since some people got results that they don’t agree with, maybe now they will try to broaden their perspectives. I think that they should give more races to test us on. For example, instead of having European Americans and African Americans and choosing between them, maybe they could make the test more accurate this way.
I feel that the IAT test was accurate but also wrong. It was very difficult to categorize good adjectives with blacks because your subconcious automatically categorizes it. But I also beleive it is accuate because I myself believe that I am slightly racist. I also feel that whether your are left or right handed has a big effect on what button you click on. In my opinion, the IAT test would improve if they asked more questions about your opinion on different races.
I believe the IAT results are accurate. It captured how i felt about different ethnictities and races. I have a strong feeling toward certain races and my result showed that. The test was interesting in the way that it used pictures and words to formulate a result. However, it can be argued that different variables such as right handed and left handed can change the results but people are just afraid to admit what they truly feel. The test could be improved by adding more questions and ways to pick your choices. The test could also be improved by adding more pictures.
In my opinion, i think that the IAT test was accurate. My results couldn't have been more correct. The objective is to see how fast you can recognize the words or pictures. I think where you live and how you are brought up can affect the results. Switching up the pictures and words may have confused me but that's what it was suppose to do and was the point. I understood this so it didn't frustrate me, I actually found it interesting. Also, i believe the test overall has to do with mainly how fast your reactions are which is what creates your result. The mixing up is to see what you recognize first. I think most people over looked this activity and i don’t think there should be any changes to the test.
I don't believe that the race test was accurate for my taste because it said I have a prefrance for European Americans over African Americans but in my opinion, I don't care or worry about what somones skin color is or where they came from or how part this or part that they are, so I think the test can be improved by not showing African American faces assoated with bad words, like "hate" "sad" or anything worse and vise versa for European Americans because the test made out all the pictures to switch rolls of being matched with bad words, and good words. So I don't agree with the test I took.
I do not believe the IAT test was accurate because of several factors that do not have to do with whether a person is racist or not. It's not a matter of the results because I myself and everyone around me got results that did not come as a shock because of factors like where we live and go to school. Some things that make the IAT test inaccurate are the keys that you press. I am right handed so I was quicker with that hand because it is my dominant hand and the left was slower. Also once you get used to the categories and they change it is confusing. You trained your brain to place one race on the “good” side and when it changed I kept going back to the original format. Lastly I got many errors because when there were a series of faces or words that all went to a certain side I got on a roll and gradually got quicker.
I feel like the IAT gave did not give me an accurate result being my right hand is my dominant hand so i hit the buttons faster when the my answer was on the right hand side.
I think that the IAT test was sort of accurate because it was not entirely true about me. The results had said that I was not at all prejudice. Even though I want to believe that they were correct when in fact it should of said that I was prejudice.The test could be improved by not having us press the keys but by some other type of testing. Some reaction times are not very good for some people and others may or may not just hit the wrong key because they were not focused well enough.
I felt that the race IAT gave accurate results. However there were some flaws that personally could have changed my results. the fact that I am right handed made it so that I was quiker when there were things on the right side. this problly didn't make a huge difference though since they switch up the catagories each time. overall I feel like it was a good assemsment and an interesting assignment.
I feel that the IAT test was accurate to some extent. All though the test does give you accurate results for some people, but for others it does not. I feel that the test is manipulated easily. For instance, when I was taking the test i automatically pressed the right button before the left because I am right handed and it was my instinct.
I believe the IAT test was not accurate, and it was completely wrong. My score indicated that I was moderately preferenced to European Americans, and I know this is inaccurate. I can say I honestly don't care what skin color you are, and that I don't prefer anyone to anything. The test could be improved in so many ways. In a way lots of human error was present since time was a limited factor and so were memorial and reflexive skills. If we had more time, and were told to do this test carefully we would have different results.
I really want to believe that the IAT was accurate, but part of me isn't sure. I feel that as a person, you can subconciously alter your results. I'm not quite convinced that just because I pressed the keys on my keyboard faster when I saw an African American, and hardley messed up the other tasks, doesn't mean I necessarily have a preferences for African Americans. I feel as though the rest could be improved by using different races, as opposed to just Caucasion and African American. After all it is a race test, so how come their only using two races?
I feel that the IAT test was accurate for me, but I agree that this test isn't the best way to measure how one views race. Some people might have had trouble with their results because they were quicker with their dominant hand as Hailey was, and this mght have caused a difference in the results. I feel that the way the test was conducted doesnt neccessarily prove how one views race just by pressing buttons. I think it would be better to have a test similar to the one we did in class where we were to guess their racee and ethnicity, but instead we should wrte our first thought answers. This way, their would be less room for error. Also it could be improved by including other races in it other than European and African Americans.
I believe that the IAT test was partly accurate only because although it is true that one hand may have faster reflexes than the other, you cannot rule out the fact that when you do the test itself you do look at the words and pictures and think a little, you make concious thoughts and what you choose is based on what you usually prefer. I dont think people can blame their results on the sole fact that it was their hands fault and that the test itself was going to fast, because although it can partly effect your results it should not effect them overall because you are looking at the screen and concentrating on an answer.
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