Tim Parsons

SOC 3500
Professor Triplett
17 April 2014
IAT Tests
The first IAT I took was the one that determines if I prefer African Americans over
European Americans. The results were there I moderately prefer European Americans over
African Americans. Truly, I do not believe the tests results from this are completely true. The test
challenges me to determine if I can determine if someone is African American or European
American. The test then calculated how fast I determined each one and then assumes that
because it was slightly harder for me to identify African Americans that I then do not prefer
them. In addition, there are sometimes patterns in the test. For example, I would be required to
click I three times, and then I would click E three times after. This pattern would register in
my head and I would then click I three times more. This time though, I would miss one because
the test is actually random. I would notice my error when I clicked I and then there would be a
time delay because I would have to realize my error, which would lead to me having delays in
clicking certain options.
The second IAT I took was the one that determines if I prefer thin people compared to fat
people. The test told me that I slightly prefer thin people compared to fat people. This bias might
actually be true though. I know people can go out and lose weight, but it is their decision to not
go out and lose weight. But even though this is true, I still try to stay open minded about those

who are overweight because they still have the potential to be genuinely nice people. I believe
this is why my results said that I slightly prefer thin people compared to fat people.
The third and final test that I took was a test to determine if I have implicit religion bias.
The results were that I prefer Christianity and Judaism more than Hinduism and Islam. I assume
that these results are merited from the fact that my exposure to them is very little and the image
of each religion is negatively recycled through social media. In addition to my little exposure to
each, sometimes I had to actually think during the tests for things that were related to Hinduism
and Islam, which might result to why I prefer them less.