Dizon, John Ray, A.

2020-35011
COMM10: Individual Output

Implicit Association Test: Reflection Towards Implicit Bias

Growing up between a "slight to moderate" traditional family, whose walks are relatively slow towards
the breakage of stereotypes, I found myself conservatively free due to access in a global community. Still, a
little bit strained of biases, especially in my junior high school days. Having been a target of some sexual
prejudice and targeted others in the past, it never felt right to do and feel so. Nonetheless, maturity hits in my
mid-teens, along with some books, getting a better understanding and stance towards sexual orientations. I
still noticed some associations inflicted by cultural diversity towards straight-gay people, which somehow
affects my sexual preferences and how I associate them.

Trying Harvard's Implicit Association Test helps me detect some of these specific associations towards sexual
orientation, picking up implicit biases across various subjects. I took Sexuality IAT (Implicit Association
Test), which requires distinguishing words and symbols representing gay and straight people. It is said that it
often reveals an automatic preference for straight relative to gay people. It proposes a two-choice
discrimination task in which stimuli have to be categorized as belonging to the target
categories Heterosexuals and Homosexuals, or the attribute categories Good and Bad by pressing, as quickly
and accurately as possible, one of two response keys. Categorizing the stimuli more quickly
when Heterosexuals share the response key with Good – and Homosexuals with Bad – than when it shares the
response key with Bad – and Homosexuals with Good – is taken to indicate an implicit preference for
heterosexuals relative to homosexuals.

Based on my assessment, the result is quite blurry to my appraisal. Throughout the test, having some negative
associations towards Gay people, like disgust and failure, I am aware that it came from the stereotypes in my
environment, which became a prejudice. Contested against this, though, it is pretty blurry because the fast-
paced and swapping of category/choice are confusing, which I think is the sole reason for the result, but not
denying the result itself for it speaks truth based on my assessment towards sexual orientations too. Also, I
think the confusing part of the choices is the point of the test. It opened my eyes to the slight bias even though
I considered myself quite an open-minded person. Thus, I concluded that whenever I encounter myself in
anything that has something to do with sexual orientation, awareness is the key towards ingrained biases from
upbringing and environment, which takes time and effort and knowledge and understanding to be free of it.

There was no framework to follow back then, alone self-reflection through journals and connection to
books and articles, which were my way of personal assessment. However, throughout the course subject,
Sorrel's six entry points for intercultural praxis is a great tool to add to individual assessment towards various
issues. There are billions of people worldwide; it is only natural to have diversity in different contexts and
cultures. Intercultural praxis proposes and deepens the evaluation of things. I realized that though I am curious
to learn, I lack the commitment to better understand each, specifically towards people with different sexual
orientations than myself. Back then, I caught myself acknowledging them without understanding, even with
the information in front, just because I sometimes think I have other things to do, which is far more essential,
and being contented with acknowledging them without knowing them. Though prioritizing oneself is not a
negative thing, prioritization and neglect could be the same side of the coin, which could be handled very well.
This changed when some of my friends began not to understand them when they came out having different
sexual orientations, which tugs me into understanding them because I realized acknowledgment without
understanding is insufficient and rude. Reflecting on the learnings in the module and from this Implicit
Association Test, being aware of the limitation of our perspective, and positioning ourselves is a continuous
process to understanding others. I am still in the process of understanding this complex part of society, having
a dialogue with people different from me, and reflecting on them. This is a continuous process; one needs to
unlearn to learn.
References
Anselmi, P., & Michelangelo Vianello, A. V. (2013, November 18). Implicit Sexual Attitude of Heterosexual,
Gay and Bisexual Individuals: Disentangling the Contribution of Specific Associations to the Overall
Measure. Retrieved from PloS one: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3832517/

Sorrells, K. (2021). Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice. SAGE Publications,
Inc.