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Are you racially biased?

Click the one item that best describes your preference

  • I have a preference for whites over blacks

    Votes: 6 21.4%

  • I have no preference for whites or blacks

    Votes: 22 78.6%

  • I have a preference for blacks over whites

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    28
Ockham

Ockham

Noblesse oblige
DP Veteran
Joined
Oct 12, 2009
Messages
23,909
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11,003
Location
New Jersey
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Libertarian - Right
With the on going racial discussions about police, race in communities, how people see racial divides and this last horrific shooting in South Carolina's AME Church, it made me seek out an IAT test on race to see just how biased I was. I will post my information below as well as the result of the test which I found to be interesting.

This is the honor system, so please vote in the poll first, then go to the link and take the test and post your results.
It would be helpful to post your own race as well as the result of the test.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TEST


My result: I am white/caucasian, 47 yrs of age.
IAT Race Result.jpg
 
I've taken these sort of tests before, and it shows I hold no bias every time... but I admit I do have my own bias' and thoughts occasionally I feel everyone honestly does... but I don't let those affect my actions, I go out of my way to treat every human being the same, according to their character, and I pride myself on trying to be as objective as I can be.
 
Ockham said:
With the on going racial discussions about police, race in communities, how people see racial divides and this last horrific shooting in South Carolina's AME Church, it made me seek out an IAT test on race to see just how biased I was. I will post my information below as well as the result of the test which I found to be interesting.

This is the honor system, so please vote in the poll first, then go to the link and take the test and post your results.
It would be helpful to post your own race as well as the result of the test.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TEST


My result: I am white/caucasian, 47 yrs of age.
View attachment 67185893
Click to expand...

I dont have to have any test I think.I just voted
 
Ockham said:
With the on going racial discussions about police, race in communities, how people see racial divides and this last horrific shooting in South Carolina's AME Church, it made me seek out an IAT test on race to see just how biased I was. I will post my information below as well as the result of the test which I found to be interesting.

This is the honor system, so please vote in the poll first, then go to the link and take the test and post your results.
It would be helpful to post your own race as well as the result of the test.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TEST


My result: I am white/caucasian, 47 yrs of age.
View attachment 67185893
Click to expand...

I tried taking the test, I could not get past the last question.
 
Medusa said:
I dont have to have any test I think.I just voted
Click to expand...

The point of this exercise is to vote first, then take the test to see how you REALLY are. I understand if you don't want to take the test and publicize your bias.
 
We all have preferences. We all have biases. It's hardwired into us and there is no escaping it. The issue is whether we act on them in acceptable ways or not.
 
Ockham said:
The point of this exercise is to vote first, then take the test to see how you REALLY are. I understand if you don't want to take the test and publicize your bias.
Click to expand...

I dunno about that, the test relies mainly on your cognitive and motoric skills and your ability to press a key button on the keyboard when a picture shows up as fast as you can. It then switches the keys' meanings and tests you again (in what then becomes a frustrating and longer than necessary experience) to compare the results, and uses the difference to decide how biased you are along with a set of questions that are pretty much directly asking the participant whether or not he is a racist person. It's a fun concept but I'm not sure how trustworthy it really is.
 
Ockham said:
With the on going racial discussions about police, race in communities, how people see racial divides and this last horrific shooting in South Carolina's AME Church, it made me seek out an IAT test on race to see just how biased I was. I will post my information below as well as the result of the test which I found to be interesting.

This is the honor system, so please vote in the poll first, then go to the link and take the test and post your results.
It would be helpful to post your own race as well as the result of the test.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE TEST


My result: I am white/caucasian, 47 yrs of age.
View attachment 67185893
Click to expand...

The test wants me to register, so I'm not going to taker it.

As for my bias on the issue of race: I don't believe that I have any bias, I've never given in to one. I do however avoid the radical and or "hood" black. I cannot stand White Trash (they embarrass me), and as for others, like the two, it's a matter of behavior to me.
 
Apocalypse said:
I dunno about that, the test relies mainly on your cognitive and motoric skills and your ability to press a key button on the keyboard when a picture shows up as fast as you can. It then switches the keys' meanings and tests you again (in what then becomes a frustrating and longer than necessary experience) to compare the results, and uses the difference to decide how biased you are along with a set of questions that are pretty much directly asking the participant whether or not he is a racist person. It's a fun concept but I'm not sure how trustworthy it really is.
Click to expand...

It's my understanding that the reliability is quite good given it's been around for the past 20+ years. The reliability and accuracy tend to be spot on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicit_Association_Test
 
jet57 said:
The test wants me to register, so I'm not going to taker it.
Click to expand...
It didn't require me to register.

jet57 said:
As for my bias on the issue of race: I don't believe that I have any bias, I've never given in to one. I do however avoid the radical and or "hood" black. I cannot stand White Trash (they embarrass me), and as for others, like the two, it's a matter of behavior to me.
Click to expand...

What I'm finding by posting this poll and the test is everyone is afraid of the result. Perhaps fear is why we cannot get over the issue of race in this country.
 
Oh jeez...yet ANOTHER thread about 'race'.

:roll:

The American obsession continues.
 
The tests all seem to be problematic, they seem to freeze somewhere in the middle of testing, and not a one of them I was able to complete.

To the OP point, we can test all day and end up with basically neutral conclusions based on how we answered the questions but I would offer that it is a practical impossibility to be completely unbiased in all of its forms. We can get pretty damn close through some combination of education, self discipline, social and logical understanding, empathy, general willingness, etc. but I suspect there will always be work to do just to get us to various levels of achieved social cohesion.
 
Ockham said:
It didn't require me to register.



What I'm finding by posting this poll and the test is everyone is afraid of the result. Perhaps fear is why we cannot get over the issue of race in this country.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think you're right.

I'll go back and try again, but the page wanted me to put in my email address in order to take he test...
 
DA60 said:
Oh jeez...yet ANOTHER thread about 'race'.

:roll:

The American obsession continues.
Click to expand...

Actually it's a poll and test about bias and learning about one's self and proclivity. Feel free to bow out like everyone else has so far...

Let's see... so far we have:

- I couldn't answer the last question
- I've taken this before so don't have to take it again
- I'll just vote in the poll
- The test required me to register (it doesn't by the way)
- Oh geeze another obsessive American thread about race
- The test is more about motor skills and not about bias


The excuse factory is on overload today! :mrgreen:
 
Your Result
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for European American compared to African American.
 
This test seems like junk science. No test like this can look into a person's heart. Someone might easily feel superficial prejudice against a certain race, which a test might detect, and yet not treat people of that race at all badly. It's actions hat count--I don't see why a person's thoughts or attitudes about race matter much. It's not as if anyone in this country could express his views by voting for racially discriminatory government measures. And when it comes to personal dealings, rather than laws, anyone has a perfect right to discriminate by race all he wants.
 
Last edited:
I finally got the test to not hang...

"Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for European American compared to African American."
 
Ockham said:
The point of this exercise is to vote first, then take the test to see how you REALLY are. I understand if you don't want to take the test and publicize your bias.
Click to expand...

This discussion is much appreciated and welcome. It means even more to me that a self-professed Right-leaning libertarian would be willing to "go there."

I will take the test when I get home from work later today and post my results.
 
Well, if the French were a race I would have. But really why is this only about white/black?
 
DA60 said:
Oh jeez...yet ANOTHER thread about 'race'.

:roll:

The American obsession continues.
Click to expand...

So if we just stop talking about hunger, will hungry people magically receive food?

Gaius46 said:
We all have preferences. We all have biases. It's hardwired into us and there is no escaping it. The issue is whether we act on them in acceptable ways or not.
Click to expand...

I used to think this way. But I had to realize that there is a fatal flaw to this reasoning: Racism is a system or a set of systems created by humans. It is not a set of attitudes, no matter how loudly many whites will howl to the contrary. This means that there was a time in human history when there was little or no white-on-black racism, and it should not be a difficult exercise to find out approximately when these systems were created.
 
clownboy said:
Well, if the French were a race I would have. But really why is this only about white/black?
Click to expand...

Because that's what the IAT test ... tests.
 
matchlight said:
This test seems like junk science. No test like this can look into a person's heart. Someone might easily feel superficial prejudice against a certain race, which a test might detect, and yet not treat people of that race at all badly. It's actions hat count--I don't see why a person's thoughts or attitudes about race matter much. It's not as if anyone in this country could express his views by voting for racially discriminatory government measures. And when it comes to personal dealings, rather than laws, anyone has a perfect right to discriminate by race all he wants.
Click to expand...

It's not attempting to look into the heart, it's looking into preference which may be environmental, which may be social, which may be a lot of things. It's actually anything BUT junk science.
 
OrphanSlug said:
The tests all seem to be problematic, they seem to freeze somewhere in the middle of testing, and not a one of them I was able to complete.

To the OP point, we can test all day and end up with basically neutral conclusions based on how we answered the questions but I would offer that it is a practical impossibility to be completely unbiased in all of its forms. We can get pretty damn close through some combination of education, self discipline, social and logical understanding, empathy, general willingness, etc. but I suspect there will always be work to do just to get us to various levels of achieved social cohesion.
Click to expand...

I manage a large dispersed team. And by dispersed I mean geographically (across the US, Europe, East Asia and India), temporally (I have staff working all the time) as well as by age (24 through 68), race and ethnicity. I'm not uncommon in that respect in my company or probably in any large global organization. As such I take "diversity and inclusion" training once a year, the goal of that being to be able to effectively work with and manage people who are radically different from me, a middle aged white guy.

For the last few years the classes have always been prefaced with the fact that we are biased and never be unbiased. There are loads of recent studies pointing to the fact that we all have innate preferences for those we identify with. Those are natural and largely unavoidable. From an organizational standpoint that means differing opinions and outlooks which, when managed correctly make for much better decision making.
 
Phys251 said:
So if we just stop talking about hunger, will hungry people magically receive food?



I used to think this way. But I had to realize that there is a fatal flaw to this reasoning: Racism is a system or a set of systems created by humans. It is not a set of attitudes, no matter how loudly many whites will howl to the contrary. This means that there was a time in human history when there was little or no white-on-black racism, and it should not be a difficult exercise to find out approximately when these systems were created.
Click to expand...

Bias and racism aren't the same thing. Bias is simply preference. Racism is the belief that one race is inherently superior to others. I can have a bias for living among other Italians without being racist.
 
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