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Biased? Harvard Wants to Know

Web test tries to suss out implicit prejudice via picture exercise

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 1, 2009 5:57 AM CST

(Newser) – Do you have a subconscious love of gays—or hatred of white people? There's an app for that. Actually, it's a website that's part of a study by Harvard, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington . “Project Implicit” gathers personal information, then puts you through a 15-minute test meant to gauge prejudice toward different groups through questions and a word/picture exercise.

Adam Ostrow ended up with a racial bias test. “Words will get swapped around, for example, putting ‘White People’ and ‘Bad Words’ on the same side and vice versa,” he writes for Mashable. “The idea is that if this becomes tricky, it might mean you have a preference.” He calls it “a bit of an exercise in hand-eye coordination more than anything else” and says it offers “interesting perspective.” And though he says he’d love those “bold enough to share your own findings” to do so, interestingly, he doesn’t.

A screenshot from the test.
A screenshot from the test.   (Harvard)
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Personally, I felt this seemed like a bit of an exercise in hand-eye coordination more than anything else, but I can see what the researchers are getting at. - Adam Ostrow

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 17 comments
thejoint00
Nov 3, 2009 6:22 AM CST
indeed the theory is far reaching beyond simple culture. it applies to any area where a person or group of people are taught that they are the weaker of two otherwise equals.
GreekChorus
Nov 3, 2009 2:03 AM CST
Isn't the the test that Hank Hill made famous?
yummines
Nov 2, 2009 7:03 AM CST
oh geez, a test that gauges how racist you are. How is that for making one feel better? The only problem with observational studies is that sometimes they are things that are too variable and are too difficult to identify trends...

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