Implicit Bias Analysis

Implicit Bias is an initial personal judgment imposed upon another person based on the internal biases imbedded in ones subconscious mind. This can be a problem in society because people often make improper judgments of another person based on an impression that may not be correct. This can impact society in a number of negative ways, but specifically it can lead to prejudice, marking ones social status, and judgments about an individuals intelligence based on a first impression.

The IAT that I selected was the test regarding age. I chose the Age IAT test because I feel that I like both young and elderly people but feel that given the choice, I would probably gravitate to favoring the elderly. I was curious to see if the test lined up with my beliefs about myself.

Regarding my results, I scored far differently than I thought I would. In fact, the test results stated that I have a moderate automatic preference for young people over old people. I was quite surprised by this result because in most social situations I gravitate toward elderly persons versus talking to a child or
teenager. I personally just feel more comfortable talking with elderly people because I feel that they usually have good stories to tell and good life lessons to learn from. In fact, based on my strong opinion regarding this, I would suggest that this test is fundamentally flawed if it is trying to find the actual truth of a situation.

In the PBS documentary regarding Implicit Bias, the documentary suggests that bias is innate within every individual.
I believe this statement to be true. That being said, I believe the test does not accurately depict an individuals biases based on the snap judgments presented in the test. I do recognize that this test is multi-faceted, however I am speaking specifically about the Age test. The tests regarding Native, Gender-Science, Asian, Disability, Arab-Muslim, Presidents, Race, and Sexuality may be more accurate than the Age test, but at this point I am skeptical based on the methodology of the test. I am not sure at this point how I would design the test to make it more accurate, but in the format that is currently available, I think individuals who are unsure of their biases may be swayed to believe that they are bias in an area which may not be the actual
situation.
The reading assigned suggests, “Implicit bias may develop from a history of personal experiences that connect certain racial groups with fear or other negative affect.” I find this somewhat accurate. A personal example that I have is not based toward race, but toward a particular social group. When I was about 9 years of age, a guy that what we called in the past a “stoner” pulled a knife in front of me and tried to steal my bike. From that point forward, I would avoid people who looked and dressed like “stoners” because of the fear that something bad would happen to me. In other words, I had an implicit bias against “stoners”. It took me several years to overcome my fear of this social group, and in effect, I basically just got to know several people in the social group and figured out that not everyone who dresses and acts like a Stoner is a bad person. On the contrary, most of the people I knew in this social group were in fact, very cool individuals.

Regarding recognizing my biases and whether it will help with my interpersonal relationships, the short answer is yes. For example, if I find myself judging someone because they have dark skin, and are wearing sagging pants, I may not try and avoid them but rather just smile and see them as a fellow human being, not someone who wants to steal my wallet.