Are You Prejudiced?

Researchers at the University of Washington and Yale University have developed a new tool to measure unconscious prejudice, with the disconcerting finding that it occurs in nine out of 10 people.

The researchers, psychology professors Anthony Greenwald of the University of Washington and Mahzarin Banaji of Yale University, on Tuesday activated a World Wide Web site that allows people to test their own levels of inadvertent prejudice and stereotyping.

They cautioned that results from the Implicit Association Test could be disturbing, especially among those who consider themselves prejudice-free.

People who take the test "either say `Oh, my God,' or they say `I don't believe it,' " Banaji said. The ingrained prejudices, she said, appear to be cultural influences learned over the course of a lifetime.

Greenwald said he was especially bothered to find the test uncovered subtle prejudices in himself, along with virtually everyone else who takes it. And he fully understands those who don't want to hear that message, he said.

"I really don't believe I'm prejudiced, but I believe I have what I conveniently describe as the unconscious roots of prejudice," Greenwald said.

The test, which Greenwald said was an outgrowth of other established techniques in social psychology, measures "implicit attitudes": positive or negative thoughts about one object that are powerful enough to rub off on associated objects. As an example, a person may have a positive view of a company because a loved one works for it.

Frequently, Banaji and Greenwald say, people are completely unaware they have such attitudes, which can be the exact opposite of a person's stated or "explicit" views.

The Web site (http://depts.washington.edu/iat/) offers four tests, measuring unconscious prejudices of:

• Black versus white people
• Old versus young
• Gender stereotypes
• Self-esteem whether there's an automatic preference for oneself.

In the race test, which is typical of the four, participants are asked to classify as quickly as possible a list of names into those that are most often considered black, such as Jamal or Lashonda, and those most often considered white, such as Chip or Peggy. Next, they are asked to rapidly classify a list of words as "good" in meaning, such as love and happy, or "bad," such as war or evil.

Participants then are timed as they group the names and words into two new lists: white names and good words, and black names and bad words. The test is then switched: participants group white names and bad words, and black names and good words.

While on the surface the final two tests appear equally difficult, in nearly all cases, Banaji and Greenwald say, people take longer when grouping black names and good words than when grouping white names and good words. That, they say, indicates an automatic, nconscious preference for white names.

The latent prejudices appear stronger among whites and Asians than among blacks, Banaji said, though more research is being done on variations in responses by non-whites.

Tests, including one administered to 1,300 incoming freshmen at Yale, have consistently found unconscious prejudices in 90 percent to 95 percent of participants, the researchers said.

Tests were checked to see if the order of questions, name or word familiarity or other factors affected how people responded, but the results remained much the same.

"We believe it reveals something that is pretty uncontrollable," Greenwald said.

A description of the Implicit Association Test was published earlier this year in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Banaji and Greenwald say it's being rapidly adopted as a tool by other researchers.

Among such projects under way are:

• A study in Germany of prejudice between Bavarians and North Germans,
• Research at Northwestern University into attitudes toward the overweight,
• Studies at Yale on identity, favoritism and self-esteem among black Americans and white Americans,


• And at the University of North Florida on attitudes toward mathematics by elementary teachers.

Greenwald and Banaji caution that the test has potential for being misused outside of research laboratories. They especially are worried that it could be used to screen people for jobs or to investigate people's unconscious likes or dislikes.

"We are very concerned that this test doesn't go the route of the lie-detector test," Greenwald said.

The goal of the new Web site is not so much fostering research as it is self-awareness. People who take the tests via the Internet don't have to identify themselves, or necessarily tell the truth in their responses, Greenwald noted. Because of that, while some statistics will be kept on the Web site, there are no plans at present to use the data or the site for research, he said.

"Right now, we want to use the Web site as a place to educate people about themselves," Banaji said.

"There's an old-fashioned term consciousness-raising," Greenwald said.

Written by George Tibbits