Implicit Association Test Essay

The results for the Implicit Association Test (IAT) Race Test was not as surprising to me as the results for the IAT Gender Test. According to the IAT Gender Test, I had a slight association of males with the word “career” and females with the word “family” compared to males with the word “family” and females with the word “career.” I had thought I would score higher on the association of females with family and males with a career. Although there was this difference, these results show that my unconscious and conscious beliefs were different. For the Gender Test, I believe that my results showed a slight favor to the association of males with career and females with family due to my experience. The women in my family, both nuclear and extended, are usually the ones who initiate family events, and bring the family together. At the same time, most of them are the primary giver in the family, or support the family financially and emotionally. The females in my family are interested in succeeding in their careers, and most of them hold high positions in their career. Most of the males in my …show more content…
The unconscious bias is affected by the environment and the group we are placed in. It also depends on the duration of when one in a specific environment. These associations about race and gender were often beliefs that were developed at a very early age through exposure to various forms of media, people, and the culture one experiences. I believe that my lack of exposure to the various associations in the IAT was the main reason for my slight preference in both the Race and Gender Tests. Growing up in a culture that most males maintain the career aspect of life, whereas females are more involved in the family, I could see why my results of the IAT Gender Test were slightly favorable to the female and family