Are You Prejudiced

Summary of the issue

The article discusses the implicit association test, which suggests that "people who think of themselves as egalitarian can harbor unconscious prejudices."(Intro to Psychology, p.487) In a study, white participants classified a series of words, and names. Some of them were related to a category like insects and others more compatible with flowers. When a word appeared on the screen the participant had to press a button as fast a possible to pair it with an insect or a flower.

During consistent trials they were asked to press the right hand button if the word was an insect or a Black name and the left hand button if the word was a flower or a White name. During inconsistent trials the participant was asked to press the left hand button for flower or a Black name and the right button was for White names or insects. The process was rearranged because research showed that the test was easier when Black names and insects shared a button and White names and flowers vice versa. White participants were shown to be faster on consistent trials.

This does not mean that the White participants are racist. It does mean that their conscious mind differs from the unconscious. Even the Black participants had the same responses towards the Black names. It's because the unconscious mind was exposed to the Black names in a negative way, through the news and movies. The Black names are frequently associated with crime, violence, and poverty. Therefore, the unconscious mind will view it as negative, while the conscious mind views it a positive based on what it has learned and based on the morals of the person's mind.

II. Personal perspective

If someone were to display an unconscious prejudice towards Blacks on this test, I wouldn't see it as racist. It would just mean that American media views Blacks in way that causes the unconscious mind to think negatively on the topic. If anything, I would be upset with American media. And quite honestly, if other Black people are scoring the same are the Whites or whatever other race is involved then wouldn't the media be the full blame?

On the other hand, it could be the environment that the person grew up in. For instance, I grew up in Mississippi and my family down there is very suspicious of White people. For some reason every time something bad happened to one of them and a White person was involved, it was automatically racist. (I can't begin to explain how annoying and embarrassing it is) And now I have a slight prejudice towards White people. Whenever, a White person does something I don't like a racist insult will sometimes pop into my head and then I shake my head, and tell myself I shouldn't be thinking that. I'm not racist, but because I grew up in a place where Black people think so negatively about White people, I think of them in that