This test is eye-opening, since everyone has biases (even though most prefer not to admit or deny that they do). Having the IAT at workplaces and even schools would be of great benefit, since people would pay more attention about their unconcious motivations and hopefully gain a better awareness about their behavior and how it impacts others.

Theoretically, racism can be considered an evolutionary mechanism fueled by conditioning. It’s no wonder that people of differing races’ brain imaging lights up at faces of the “other” race in same way as when viewing pictures of snakes and spiders. Consider that in pre-modern eras, unknown entities most often represented danger. However, recent conditioning involves associations elucidated by American media. Recall that post-9/11, people of color who looked like "terrorists" or had Middle Eastern sounding names were discriminated against because of anxiety laden profiling. The black American, however, has endured this type of profiling for many hundreds of years, resulting in a more covert form of racism that many are willing to ignore. A definition of racism includes the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability, as well as the belief that a particular race is superior to others. Covert racism underlies statements like, "You speak very articulately"--implying implicit beliefs that articulation in black Americans is something rare and worthy of commentary. Even beliefs that black Americans are inherently excellent athletes is a form of racism that posits all black people are good at sports. The sports paradox coupled with a prevalent attitude that black Americans are, as a race, less intelligent than other Americans often leads to embarrassing assumptions that tall, affluent black men must be basketball players (or rap artists). Defining racism in association with lynch mobs, use of the “N-word,” and segregation safety nets many who unknowingly or uncaringly make disparaging racially-charged connections on a daily basis. You don’t have to use the “N-word” to be a racist. But if you tuck your purse a little more securely under your arm every time you pass a black man(or remember to set your alarm on your car always precisely the moment you see a black person passing), you probably are one.

When we experimented with this in my Research Methods class, an interesting hypothesis was given. Could it be that the terms used to label 'black' and 'white', have less to do with racial terms to our mind, and more to do with color association. After all, in our culture, white is the color of purity, virginity, good, while black is the color of death, plague, and evil. This test could be more effective if a more accurate set of terms were used.

This test was very interesting to me. I was very anxious to see what my result would be. As a white female that grew up in a small town where 90% or more of the population was white, I was worried that I might be unknowingly biased.

According to the test, I AM biased, but not in favor of whites - I have a slight preference toward black people. I often think of myself as a "champion of the underdog", and I wonder if this plays into my preference. Or maybe it's just keen curiosity of the unknown.

Either way, it is still probably "bad" to be biased at all. A person's color hardly determines their worth.