Implicit Association Test

Want to find out how prejudiced your unconscious is? Try the Implicit Association Test. This test asks you to quickly associate attributes with various concepts (age, race, gender roles, etc.) and rates your unconscious prejudices by measuring how long it takes you to associate a "good" word or a "bad" word with a certain category.

So, for instance, if you find it easier to associate positive attributes with "young people" as opposed to "old people," then you have a preference for youth over age.

It's an interesting concept except that I wonder if it's really true. The way the test works is as follows: first you identify faces or names with the concept. For instance in the young vs. old test you had to press the e or the i keys to identify faces as "young" or "old." Then you identified "good" vs. "bad" attributes. Next you identified young vs. old faces again only they were now on the opposite side of the keyboard. Then they pair "good" attributes with "young" and "bad" with "old." Finally they switch again and "bad" attributes are paired with "young" while "good" attributes are paired with "old." If it takes you significantly longer to identify good attributes with old as opposed to identifying them with youth, then you're biased against old people.

So, what if you just get used to hitting the keys the way you were first trained? What if it is harder to switch gears not because you are prejudiced against the group in question but because you already learned to associate the attributes with your right versus your left hand? I wonder. In any case the results were interesting but not too surprising (and no, I'm not telling what they were). Try it for yourself. It's an interesting diversion!