Hidden Bias

The Race IAT test was not able to give me an interpretation of my data due to my many errors. Therefore, I cannot speak to my results. But I can write about my experience. I believed this test was very stressful. For the first two surveys I didn't even understand what I was doing so I understand why my results were uninterpretable. And once I understood what I was doing, I was very frustrated and shaken up. I would often mix up what the "e" and "i" stood for. I also found the questions before and after to not be necessary because the interpretation should only be based upon the data received from taking the test. Discussing with my peers different interpretations, few people seemed pleased. Someones interpretation of data told them that they moderately to strongly prefer European American to African American and she was appalled! She does not find that to be true at all, and frustrated her a lot. Someone else was told that they preferred African Americans to European Americans and she too was surprised to be in the 6%. I was not surprised with the breakdown of the interpretations though because many people still do have bias feelings, but just don't let them influence their every day behavior.

What I gained from this experience, is that this test did not label someone racist or not. what I find important for people to realize is that this test interpreted data, telling you what you prefer. Just because you prefer a white person over a black person, it does not mean you are racist. It just means you feel more comfortable with one more than the other. I definitely see that I prefer whites over blacks, but I am not racist. I do not hate blacks. I can also say how I prefer Greeks over Jews because I am Greek. It doesn't mean anything. I don't hate Jews, in fact I live in a Jewish-dominated neighborhood. People need to understand that this just told each test taker what they preferred and not whether or not they were racist.