Exercise 3: Implicit Preference

Exercise 3: Implicit Association Test
I took two Implicit Associations Tests; the first regarding weight and whether or not I prefer fat people or skinny people, and the second regarding whether or not I prefer homosexual or heterosexual people. I was a bit confused over the way these tests work, and found my results to be strange (or rather, didn’t understand where the results really came from). The first IAT interpreted that I have no implicit preference for skinny people over fat people, while the second one interpreted that I have a strong implicit preference for heterosexual people over homosexual people. I was very confused by this, as I felt that I made a similar amount of mistakes during both tests. I suppose that part of the test is based off of the immediacy of reactions, and, as it would be a matter of milliseconds, I certainly am unable to judge the legitimacy of my reaction time. Although, it’s likely that my results may not be the most reflective of my true associations as I was fairly distracted by people around me (which is my mistake).
Upon receiving the first result, I felt that I was justified in trusting the test and believed that it supported my idea of myself as a person who
I hold dear the belief that I am an unbiased person, one that will judge a person not on race, sexuality, gender, and so on, but on their merits and personality. The homosexuality IAT refuted this position. As a direct result, I had to find reasons why I should not believe the test, rather than critically looking at myself and determining if I can or should change my behaviors and beliefs. Having considered all of this since, I still question the legitimacy of the test but I also question why the legitimacy matters. It can never hurt to be more sensitive and critically examining the ways I treat and judge people will serve to either open my eyes to my biases or make me a kinder, more aware