This is our final blog focusing on how race and ethnicity has been constructed in the U.S. before shifting gears toward the interaction between race, ethnicity and politics on a more practical level. To do so I would like you to take another, slightly different look at how we have internalized constructions and values associated with different groups. I would like you to take at least one Implicit Assessment Test (IAT) which will serve as a tool as to how we have or have not internalized socially constructed values about race and ethnicity.
The IAT tests have been designed by Project Implicit which, according to the project website, "represents a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and University of Washington. While the particular purposes of each study vary considerably, most studies available at Project Implicit examine thoughts and feelings that exist either outside of conscious awareness or outside of conscious control. The primary goals of Project Implicit are to provide a safe, secure, and well-designed virtual environment to investigate psychological issues and, at the same time, provide visitors and participants with an experience that is both educational and engaging."
You can find the tests by clicking on "I Wish to Proceed" at the bottom of this screen after reading the disclaimer. On the next screen I would like you to select the Skin Tone IAT which should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. Afterward, if you would like, feel free to take other IAT tests including a Race (Black-white) IAT, Native (Native-White American) IAT, Asian (Asian-European American IAT), and Arab-Muslim (Arab Muslim - Other) IAT.
I would like you to comment on your experience taking the test and your results. I want to be clear: this is not a test suggesting that you are or are not racist. It is designed to indicate internalized preferences regarding issues that are both sensitive and influenced greatly by social, cultural, historical, and institutional influences. I look forward to a thoughtful discussion about your experiences on Thursday.
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this test. For me, I made some mistakes when I had to choose between the separate groups because I personally have faster reflexes in my right hand then I do in my left because I am right-handed. My results said that "Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Light Skin compared to Dark Skin" but it also said that I also made a few too many mistakes to give an accurate reading. This quiz didn't really show me anything, because it does not really show my personal views on things nor does it show my personal experiences thus far in my life.
ReplyDelete-Katelyn Schweitzer
I took this test about two years ago when I was a senior in high school for my sociology class. When I took it previously I had no idea what the purpose was for me to look at different skin colors and categorizing words with them. This time around I took it and made around 5 errors in total. After finishing the test I was not very surprised by the response I got because I had remembered feeling bad previously. The results showed that my “automatic preference for Light Skin”. Because of my background and where I come from it could makes sense that those were my results but I still feel this test is not very accurate and many find it confusing as I did my first time.
ReplyDelete-Sami Wiley
I personally don't think this test was helpful at all. This test was based off on whether I pressed "I" or "E". For some questions I would accidentally press the wrong letter even though I knew the answer. I am a right handed person so my reflexes would automatically hit the "I" but really I would be thinking the answer is "E" and not "I". My results said that I prefer light skinned people over dark skinned people. At the beginning of the test it asked me how I feel about both groups and I said that they are both equal to me. I don't think this quiz can show my personal thoughts or feelings about any group of people especially by having me pressing "I" or "E".
ReplyDelete-Arifa
I believe this test was interesting. I agree with the comments above that it doesn't really reflect our personal views, but I do believe there is some truth to the results. I got a "moderate automatic preference to Light Skin compared to Dark Skin". And I did make some mistakes with my answers. Like if I had to press the "I" or "E" key multiple times in a row, I would press that same key automatically because of the repetition from the previous selections. Still, I feel like media and experience with different skin tones have some affect on our results.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Sit
Though I have some qualms about how this test is executed, culturally, it makes sense. I am a white, middle class woman, so my "world" is largely representative of this. My result, "moderate automatic preference to light-skin" is also, therefore representative of my upbringing and life experiences. These tests are tricky because of the language used in them. Questions like "do you have warm feelings towards x, y and z" are difficult to answer. Whether or not I feel more or less comfortable around someone depends upon many things: the context is absolutely crucial. If asked, skin tone would be very far down on the list of criteria that make me behave one way or another towards a person. The word "preference" makes this test uncomfortable. I interpret my results to mean that because of my social and economic background, my primary lifestyle predominately consists of light skin tones (my family, closest friends, work place and classrooms). The results of this test show that there are unconscious associations going on in our brain, based on our experiences.
ReplyDeleteLastly, I found the breakdown of answers to be interesting. More than half of the people that take the IAT have a more weighted preference towards "light skin". Is this because most of the people taking the test have light skin? Or, does it mean that even as a person of "dark skin", those cultural associations of good/bad are ingrained and perpetuated, despite the negative implications that that has on self-identity?
-Lilly McNicholas
I feel like if this test was present or executed in a different way then it might show some real insight. However, I feel like right now this test just makes you biased instead of testing for it. They put "light" skin with "good" words first and this just puts the idea that this is how the test is supposed to go in your head. I really feel like I had difficulty with the second part, when they switched "dark" and put it with "good" because I was used to doing it the other way already. While I was doing it I consciously put white with good because that is how it was first set up. I did this just so that I could answer the questions a lot faster. They could have just as easily put flowers in the place of faces and after the first test I would have associated some flowers with "good" and "bad". Of course this test is interesting because one could say that separating people into these categories that easily is something that is built when we are little. If we are exposed to people saying that "darker" people are "bad" then as children or even toddlers I would be easy to internalize these ideas. If it is this easy to make someone associate "good" and "bad" with certain skin tones in about 10 minutes, then it is scary to think about how a childhood exposed to these ideas would impact someone.
ReplyDelete-Daniel Hernandez
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ReplyDeleteFor me this test was neither right or wrong. My results "moderate automatic preference to light skin" I feel does not represent my personal views but does represent what is seen a lot in media and in many social aspects. Usually in media we do see white people being portrayed as "good" or "more superior", which unconsciously is in the back of our minds even if we do not see it that way. This is why I think this test does not show ones view on race and people but is accurate when thinking about what we see and learn socially through media and many other things.
ReplyDelete-Angela Kopec
I understand this test is trying to make a point about what characteristics or words a person may associate a white or dark person with, but I don't think it was the most accurate. I think reflexes were more of a deciding factor than a person's subconscious reaction to certain words and pictures on the screen. But this test really did make me think about the preconceived notions I have of someone based on their skin type. Other than that, this test didn't do much else. I don't think it takes into account all of the things that create a person's outlook on life and the people around them. Life experiences and that person's background contribute so much to how comfortable they are with a certain group of people, and this test has no way of incorporating that into the results.
ReplyDelete-Amy LaFay
This test was actually very interesting. My results told me that I had a preference of light skinned people over dark skinned. Although this did not reflect my personal views, I understand how they would come up with such a result. The first two sections of the test would reflect my personal views when it asks straight forward questions, but the last section I do not believe would reflect someone's personal views. When it came to grouping things into good and bad, it took me a bit to get used to remembering that the good was on the left and the bad was on the right, but eventually I got the hang of it. Then, it switched, which lead me to have to reacquaint myself with the new positioning of the dark and light skinned person and the good and bad. This would definitely impact the results. Other than that, I thought that the test was very interesting, and if formatted a little bit differently that it could possibly give true results.
ReplyDelete-Alyson
When I took the quiz, it took me a little bit to get used to matching the keys to the categories, which is why I don't think my result is accurate. I got a "strong automatic preference for light skin," but I credit that to my confusion on the first part of the quiz. I have plenty of friends that are multi-ethnic and don't believe I perceive dark skinned people with negative connotations, as this quiz suggested.
ReplyDelete-Emilie Reuther
My ending result on this quiz was, "Strong Automatic Preference for Light Skin". I didn't think the test quite portrayed what I feel, rather just made it a world and picture matching game. When it said to put "Good" and "Bad" Words to either side, I only did so because that's the word I wanted to identify, not the picture itself. It did however make me hesitant at first when the sides switched especially when the word "or" was incorporated under each picture.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I feel like there should be a different way to test but this quiz seemed alright.
I agree with the comments about how the test was set up. Since "light" and "good" were grouped first, it threw me off for the rest of the test. I screwed up on the "dark" and "good" test because I was so used to the first one. Other factors, like being right hand dominant and pushing "I" or "E" 3 times in a row, affected what letter I pressed. My result was "slight preference to light-skin". My "world" is definitely more white-dominated, but I don't have a "preference" over one or the other (and I hate how they use the word "preference"...). If they had put "dark" and "good" first, I think my results would have been different. However, the test is interesting because it shows how easily, and quickly, things are ingrained in our minds.
ReplyDelete- Sophie Mimica
I remember taking a test like this for a class in high school and scoring no automatic preference to either but when I took it this time I scored a slight automatic preference to light skin. I think the idea of this test is interesting but the process of determining whether a person prefers dark skin to light skin is inaccurate. The test is too simple and has a better chance of determining which hand has a faster reflex or whether a person is good or bad at multi tasking. I also found myself following a pattern which produced mistakes when the sides were changed up due to my getting used to the category being on a certain side. I know that race plays a major part in everyday life situations because I see it at both of my jobs and in my interactions with acquaintances, friends and family but I truly believe I have no preference to either.
ReplyDeleteI am not convinced the IAT- Skin Tone test really accomplishes its goal. I took the test twice, and my results were different each time. The first time, I came out with a "Slight automatic preference for light-skinned". The second time around, I acquired a "Strong automatic preference for light-skinned". I do not know how my opinions regarding skin tone changed so fast, but I remain unconvinced about the accuracy of this test. There are just too many variables, such as the order in which the questions are given or the user's dominant hand, to obtain an accurate reading. The results also seemed to be based almost entirely off of the motor skills exercise, paying little attention to the opinion questions.
ReplyDeleteThe overall results were also interesting. Lilly brings up some good questions regarding why most people seem to prefer light-skinned people. The results suggest that more than half the people taking the test associate light skin with what is "good" or "right". I find this a bit difficult to buy, but then again, I could be wrong.
The test is really quite interesting but I am not going to lie and say it was easy. The way it is set up somewhat throws you off since you are slightly accustomed to one side of the screen than the other. But I could easily see how it begins to reflect the way we may or may not see different “skin colors” or even nationalities. The only thing that I don’t quite understand is how our political beliefs and ideologies play or even relate with the generalization of skin color, rather than it serving as a study for how those who follow political ideologies would categorize issues such as abortion, the economy, etc.
ReplyDelete-Sara Oceguera
This test made me really anxious because they emphasized you had to choose either option really fast and my fingers kept pressing the letters next to the "e" and "i". I can see how this experiment might work if some of the more logistical aspects could be controlled more. I also found it distracting that the light skinned and dark skinned icons looked like different genders too. I think this may have influenced the way I chose where the words went. My results showed that I had "no automatic preference" but then it also said that this result could have been because I made too many mistakes. Regardless, I don't know if this test is a good indicator for one's beliefs or automatic responses.
ReplyDelete-Catherine Adams
The test was strange for me and I felt like some of the questions were unnecessary such as the political party question. My results showed that I slightly preferred light skin over dark skin. The results felt like it had to do more with your speed on the keyboard rather than what you personally felt about skin-tone. To be honest, I felt as if I was playing a vocabulary game where I have to find synonyms for good and bad. The test results were definitely unconvincing even though I liked the concept. The fact that they only placed dark-skin and light-skin with either good or bad, and then switching them from left to right was not really persuasive. I think that if they added more factors to the test related to skin-tone it will make the test more interesting. Overall, the test did not really explain anything other than some results which is more likely inaccurate.
ReplyDeleteFrom seeing the results of this test, I think they are inaccurate. It was interesting taking it and seeing the type of questions that are being asked in order to find out these results, but I think they have failed to determine the correct one. I especially think it was inaccurate when doing the second part of the assessment test. I thought of it more as matching ‘game’ but did not keep in mind that it had anything to do with skin color. This is why it might have been inaccurate because I viewed it more as a game then an actual test, which can possibly lead to wrong answers from the few mistakes that I made when taking it. I think the results could have been more accurate if it stuck to just asking more questions in greater detail to really understand my view point and be more accurate.
ReplyDelete-Natalia Lulek
I thought taking this test was super interesting and uniquely informational. As for the results, I am not sure if I can say I fully understand them or agree with how they came about, but to begin with, my highest score was a twenty-eight percent regarding moderate automatic association of male with science and female with liberal arts, followed by a twenty-six percent regarding strong automatic association of male with science and female with liberal arts. My next two scores were both eighteen percent regarding slight automatic association of male with science and female with liberal arts and little to no automatic preference between gender and academic domains. Then I received a six percent for slight automatic association of male with liberal arts and female with science. Next, a three percent for moderate automatic association of male with liberal arts and female with science. Lastly, a one percent for strong automatic association of male with liberal arts and female with science. Part of the reason I don't fully understand the results is because they are not clear to me and I'm not even sure where they are coming from. The other part is because I don't understand how such a test could come up with such results. Nevertheless, I thought it was worth the experience and nice for a piece of mind. I also am interested in further discussion about the test as well as the topics pertaining to it.
ReplyDeleteLauren Booth
Upon receiving the results of the test, on one hand I was surprised, and on the other, I was not. I was surprised because I do not believe I have a preference (even a slight one, as my test results show) for light skinned people over dark skinned people. In my personal experiences, I would say my preference is slightly more towards darker skinned people than lighter. I am aware that the color of someone's skin is nothing more than the amount of melanin they biologically inherited and that it has nothing to do with their character, their intentions, or actions, but even then, if I am honest with myself I have a slight preference for darker skinned people. This has to do with my personal experience as a child. On the other hand, I was not surprised with the results. In most cultures, including my own, the lighter complexion you have, the better person you are considered to be. Whether that is more beautiful, more intelligent, or an all around better person, many people share this belief.
ReplyDeleteThe test however, I think was made to throw you off. The results of the test was probably entirely based on the five minute "matching game" as opposed to the questions where it asked for your opinion. The questions where it asked for my opinion, were answered almost all liberal, but the matching game I kept mistaking the categories for being on the left or right or vice versa. The test is a good idea, but I don't think a ten minute test can accurately detect your personal beliefs, the topic is much more complex than that.
-Jasmine Tena