Tuesday 20 September 2011

Extra Credit: Take another IAT test or two from a different category

The first additional IAT test I took was the Sexuality IAT. Gay rights have always been important to me. Perhaps I subconsciously thought I would get a result closer to what I hoped would reflect my unconscious inclinations, since my cousin is gay and have close family friends who are gay. Homosexuality is something I have been exposed to at a young age to a larger degree, I would think, than African Americans. However, after taking the test, I got the result "Slight automatic preference for straight people compared to gay people." Although I did not get the outcome I might have hoped for, I was pleased to see that there is a higher percentage of people who are neutral than those who have a slight preference for straight people. But it is upsetting that over 50% of people have strong or modern preferences for heterosexual people.

The second additional IAT test I took was the Age (Young-Old) IAT. After visiting my great grandmother this summer, I realized how little I am exposed to people outside my age range. Even on an average day, I am surrounded by primarily 14 - 18 year olds. I have always enjoyed talking to people roughly my parents age, or a bit older or younger, but I wouldn't say I spend much time with people, say, my grandparents' age on a regular basis. Therefore, I was not shocked that I got "moderate automatic preference for young compared to old" as my result. I was also not surprised by the large percentile who preferred the young. If you just look at the TV show Doctor Who as an example. The show started about fifty years ago. But now the Doctors just keep getting younger and younger, with the current Doctor in his early twenties, even though many of the die hard Who fans are older people who have been watching the show their whole lives. This clearly shows a preference of all ages to youth.

I also took the Weight (Fat-Thin) IAT, and was pleased that this was the first test I got a "neutral" response on the first try.

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