The Implicit Association Test - Admission/Application Essay Example

The Implicit Association Test The Implicit Association Test The Implicit AssociationTest is used for various purposes, such as evaluating unconscious favoritism towards an individual’s own group and prejudice against those outside one’s group. After taking the test, I discovered that I am somewhat racist and fairly sexist. The test was about Arab-Muslim IAT where I sorted Muslim from non-Muslim names. In this case, I was faster at ‘bad’ with Muslim names when the two shared a key and slower when the Muslim name was associated with “good”.

The second test proved that I am sexist; I had to identify women’s and men’s names and words related to either family or career. I discovered that I was faster when women and family words shared a button, implying that involuntarily I relate women with the family. The IAT taps in the psychological means displayed by people in one way or another—favoritism towards individuals in one’s group (Gawronski, B., & Payne, 2010). Even if an individual is assigned to an unknown group where all members are unknown to him/her, the prejudices are evident.

That is, people will always the in-group even in minimal groups. They often portray a high positive implicit approach towards the “outer-group” and a negative attitude to the in-group, for instance, a black person can be faster to relate black names with bad notions. By being conscious of one’s implicit biases, it is possible to work towards breaking a habit. With the consciousness of the routine, the habit could be easily broken, just as it is probable to quit smoking, one can as well stop being biased.

The test enhances the understanding of the course content by assessing one’s own behavior and those of others. Reference Gawronski, B., & Payne, K. (2010). Handbook of implicit social cognition: Measurement, theory, and application (1st ed.). New York: Guilford Press.