Facing ourselves: new tests for hidden biases at Project Implicit
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From Mediation Channel |
This is by no means the first time I’ve encouraged readers to plumb the depths of their hidden biases with the help of Project Implicit and its Implicit Association Test (IAT), an instrument which “measures implicit attitudes and beliefs that people are either unwilling or unable to report.” With the recent discussion here and elsewhere of gender bias, I thought it was time to revisit the IAT.
The IAT tests for biases across a range of categories, from gender to skin tone to disability. Since I first wrote about it, Project Implicit has introduced other tests, including
- the “Weapons - Harmless Objects” IAT, which requires the ability to recognize White and Black faces, and images of weapons or harmless objects;
- the “Arab Muslim - Other People” IAT, which requires the ability to distinguish names that are likely to belong to Arab-Muslims versus people of other nationalities or religions; and
- a “2008 Presidential Election” IAT, which requires the ability to recognize images of U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.
You can also take the Three Countries IAT (link good at the time of this post), which requires participants to identify words associated with China, India, and Japan.
Visit Project Implicit and get to know yourself better.
Biography
Diane Levin is a dispute resolution professional in the
While real-world, in-person interactions are important to her work, the internet plays an integral role. Someone who actually builds web sites for fun, Diane serves as technology consultant to mediators and other service providers. She was one of the first people in the world to blog about ADR, and for three years has published the award-winning MediationChannel.com. She also tracks and catalogues ADR blogs world-wide at ADRblogs.com, where she has created a community for bloggers writing about constructive ways to resolve disputes.
The views expressed by authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Resourceful Internet Solutions, Inc., Mediate.com or of reviewing editors.
