Most people would like to think they are mindful and unbiased when regarding other people and situations. Unfortunately, we commonly fall prey to biases, especially when we are stressed or tired, because they make processing and interpreting the information around us easier. The biggest and most pervasive of the biases is the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE), which is the tendency to focus on personal attributes rather than situational attributes when explaining a behavior (Ross, 1977).
The classic (and first) experiment that looked into this phenomenon was one in which participants read a student’s essay, and then were told that the student was either assigned the position they took in the essay or they freely chose it (Jones & Harris, 1967). Overall, the participants were more likely to infer the student’s true attitude when they were told the position had been freely chosen than if it had been assigned. But the participants were still likely to infer, though not as greatly, the student’s true attitude even if they knew the position had been assigned. This phenomenon has been demonstrated in many other studies, but the concept I am aiming to demonstrate in this blog is more of a subset of the FAE, the Actor-Observer Effect.
The Actor-Observer Effect is the tendency people have to explain their own behavior using situational attributes, but use personal attributes to explain others’ behavior (Jones & Nisbett, 1972; Watson, 1982). An example of this is, when asked to explain why inmates committed their crimes, prison counselors spoke of stable personal characteristics, while the prison inmates talked about unique situational factors (Saulnier & Perlman, 1981).
In my video I first ask a friend about a situation in which someone cuts her off while driving, and how that would make/made her feel. She responds by saying she gets immediately angry and calls them names, and is frustrated. On the other hand, when asked about a situation in which she cuts someone off, she responds by talking about situational reasons for it, such as being in a rush or the person in front of her driving too slowly. None of these situational factors were mentioned when she was being cut off, instead only anger and naming calling was brought up, but when she was the one cutting people off, many possible reasons came up. This, of course, does not make my friend a bad or self-centered person, since we all fall prey to the Actor-Observer Effect from time to time.
But why do we fall prey to such things as the Fundamental Attribution Error and the Actor-Observer Effect? One theory is that social perception, or interpreting a situation, is a two part process (Gilbert & Malone, 1995). The first part includes identifying the behavior and making a quick personal attribution. The second part is an adjustment or correction in our assessment in order to account for situational factors. The first part is easy and always happens; the second part is harder to do and therefore doesn’t always occur. One explanation for why it’s so easy to attribute others’ behaviors to personal factors is that we have a perceptual bias that causes us to focus more on the actor than the situation as a whole, which causes the actor to become highly salient (Heider, 1958). Therefore, we attribute behaviors to what is salient to us, which in most cases is the person. Salience can also play a role in why the Actor-Observer Effect occurs. In other words, reasons for our own actions, such as situational factors, are highly salient to us, while reasons for other people’s behaviors might not be as known and therefore not as salient. For instance, when we cut people off we know exactly why we did it, which makes it easy for us to explain our behavior with situational attributes. But when someone else cuts us off, we have no idea why they did this or what situation they are in, so we fall back on what is easier, which is making personal attributes for the behavior.
Gilbert, D.T., & Malone, P.S. (1995). The correspondence bias. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 21-38.
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
Jones, E.E., & Harris, V.A. (1967). The attribution of attitudes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 3, 1-24.
Jones, E.E., & Nisbett, R.E. (1972). The actor and observer: Divergent perceptions of causality. In E.E. Jones, D.E. Kanouse, H.H. Kelley, R.E. Nisbett, S. Valins, & B. Weiner (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior (pp.79-94). Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.
Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 174-221). New York: Academic Press.
Saulnier, K., & Pearlman, D. (1981). The actor-observer bias is alive and well in prison: A sequel to Wells. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 559-564.
Watson, D. (1982). The actor and the observer: How are their perceptions of causality divergent? Psychological Bulletin, 92, 682-700.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The One About Cognitive Dissonance, Decision-Making, and Colleges
Walking through life, I have had to make many decisions. Some of them were very tough, or at least they felt so at the time. The toughest decisions to make were usually the ones that had choices that were equally appealing. These decisions have ranged from ‘what college to go to’ to ‘which candy to choice from at the store’. The cognitive dissonance experienced when having to make these tough choices is what I most related to while reading this chapter.
To elaborate further, Cognitive Dissonance Theory is the idea that people experience tension and discomfort when holding inconsistent cognitions, and therefore become motivated to reduce the inconsistencies and establish consistency (Festinger, 1957). Another way of looking at it is if a person’s behaviors go against, or are inconsistent with, their attitudes or beliefs, they become driven to find a way to make their behaviors consistent with their attitudes. Furthermore, since by this time they have already committed the behavior, and cannot change that, the only choice left is to change their attitudes. One of the ways this cognitive dissonance can be experienced is after making a difficult decision between equally desirable alternatives, or Post-decision Dissonance. Most people’s attitude would be to want both alternatives, yet their behavior would be to choose only one, which makes their attitude and behavior inconsistent. In order to remedy this and reduce dissonance, they would exaggerate the positives of the chosen alternative, and focus on the negatives of the not chosen alternative. In other words, they would change their attitudes to be consistent with their behavior, which results in them feeling as if the not chosen alternative is undesirable and they never wanted it to begin with.
An example of this is an experiment conducted by Jack Brehm (1956), in which he asked female participants to rate consumer products, and afterwards were offered a choice between two products to take home as a gift. Unbeknownst to them, the participants were divided into and high-dissonance group and a low-dissonance group. Specifically, this meant that the high-dissonance group had to choose between to equally desirable products, while the low-dissonance group chose between one desirable and one undesirable product. After making their decision, the participants then went back a reevaluated the products. With the low-dissonance group, their ratings remained about the same, but, in the high-dissonance group, ratings for the chosen product increased and the ratings for the not chosen product decreased, though they had originally found the two products to be equally desirable. In other words, they reduced their dissonance over picking one product (behavior) though they really wanted both (attitude) by focusing on the positives of the chosen product and on the negatives of the not chosen product, which then made their attitudes change, so that they didn’t really want the other product anyway.
This type of experience with cognitive dissonance happens to me all the time, as I’m sure it happens to many others as well. Whenever I have to make a choice between two equally wanted possibilities, I feel high anxiety and discomfort. Yet, once I finally make a decision, the choice then seems so simple, and I wonder why I ever stressed at all. This was particularly the case when deciding where to go to college. I was trying to decide between two possible colleges, each of which were equally desirable, and had their own positives. Specifically, one college was offering a full ride, was closer, and I knew people who were going there. Yet, the other college was better rated, smaller, and was closer to Austin. I wanted both, yet I could only attend one college. For a couple days I went back and forth over which one to choose, all the while experiencing a good amount of stress and anxiety. After all that deliberation, I decided on the smaller, better rated college (whoo SU!), and, shortly after my decision, couldn’t see why it had been such a hard decision to make. The choice seemed clear now, as I began to focus on all the positives of SU, and all the negatives of the now unwanted college. In short, SU became the greatest college ever, while the other college became completely undesirable. In other words, thanks to cognitive dissonance and my need to reduce it, I am completely in love with Southwestern (most of the time).
Brehm, J.W. (1956). Post-decision changes in desirability of alternatives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52, 384-389.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
To elaborate further, Cognitive Dissonance Theory is the idea that people experience tension and discomfort when holding inconsistent cognitions, and therefore become motivated to reduce the inconsistencies and establish consistency (Festinger, 1957). Another way of looking at it is if a person’s behaviors go against, or are inconsistent with, their attitudes or beliefs, they become driven to find a way to make their behaviors consistent with their attitudes. Furthermore, since by this time they have already committed the behavior, and cannot change that, the only choice left is to change their attitudes. One of the ways this cognitive dissonance can be experienced is after making a difficult decision between equally desirable alternatives, or Post-decision Dissonance. Most people’s attitude would be to want both alternatives, yet their behavior would be to choose only one, which makes their attitude and behavior inconsistent. In order to remedy this and reduce dissonance, they would exaggerate the positives of the chosen alternative, and focus on the negatives of the not chosen alternative. In other words, they would change their attitudes to be consistent with their behavior, which results in them feeling as if the not chosen alternative is undesirable and they never wanted it to begin with.
An example of this is an experiment conducted by Jack Brehm (1956), in which he asked female participants to rate consumer products, and afterwards were offered a choice between two products to take home as a gift. Unbeknownst to them, the participants were divided into and high-dissonance group and a low-dissonance group. Specifically, this meant that the high-dissonance group had to choose between to equally desirable products, while the low-dissonance group chose between one desirable and one undesirable product. After making their decision, the participants then went back a reevaluated the products. With the low-dissonance group, their ratings remained about the same, but, in the high-dissonance group, ratings for the chosen product increased and the ratings for the not chosen product decreased, though they had originally found the two products to be equally desirable. In other words, they reduced their dissonance over picking one product (behavior) though they really wanted both (attitude) by focusing on the positives of the chosen product and on the negatives of the not chosen product, which then made their attitudes change, so that they didn’t really want the other product anyway.
This type of experience with cognitive dissonance happens to me all the time, as I’m sure it happens to many others as well. Whenever I have to make a choice between two equally wanted possibilities, I feel high anxiety and discomfort. Yet, once I finally make a decision, the choice then seems so simple, and I wonder why I ever stressed at all. This was particularly the case when deciding where to go to college. I was trying to decide between two possible colleges, each of which were equally desirable, and had their own positives. Specifically, one college was offering a full ride, was closer, and I knew people who were going there. Yet, the other college was better rated, smaller, and was closer to Austin. I wanted both, yet I could only attend one college. For a couple days I went back and forth over which one to choose, all the while experiencing a good amount of stress and anxiety. After all that deliberation, I decided on the smaller, better rated college (whoo SU!), and, shortly after my decision, couldn’t see why it had been such a hard decision to make. The choice seemed clear now, as I began to focus on all the positives of SU, and all the negatives of the now unwanted college. In short, SU became the greatest college ever, while the other college became completely undesirable. In other words, thanks to cognitive dissonance and my need to reduce it, I am completely in love with Southwestern (most of the time).
Brehm, J.W. (1956). Post-decision changes in desirability of alternatives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52, 384-389.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The One About My Mom, Tattoos, and Psychological Reactance
When reading through the Attitude chapter, the concept that most stuck with me was Psychological Reactance, which is the theory that, when people feel their freedom is being threatened, they react by asserting themselves and their views, and ultimately finding the threatened freedom more attractive (Brehm & Brehm, 1981). Furthermore, the perceived threat of freedom can lead to a negative attitude change, or a move to the complete opposite position of the one being promoted, if the communicator is seen as coming on too strong (Heller, Pallak, & Picek, 1873). In addition, the theory is sometimes viewed as ‘Reverse Psychology’ or the idea that, if you want someone to do something, threaten them with the idea that they aren’t allowed to do it. In other words, if you want a child to eat their vegetables, tell them they are not allowed to eat any vegetables, ever.
This concept reminded me of being a teenager, when anything your parents told you to do, say, or think was wrong, and the need to do the opposite was immense. In terms of my teenage years, the biggest things I rebelled against had to deal with tattoos and alcohol, and it wasn’t in the way most people would think. My mom loved to go out, drink, and dance, while I preferred to stay home with a book. Furthermore, she has about twelve tattoos and will probably get another one by the time you read this blog. Growing up around her, especially during my teen years, she would always offer me a sip of her alcohol drink and ask me what kind of tattoos I was going to get when I was older. Overall, she gave the impression that I was expected to love tattoos and give them as soon as possible. And since, at the time, I felt she was trying to control me, I fought against it. I rebelled by forming and stating the opinion that I hated alcohol and tattoos, and would not ever drink alcohol or get a tattoo. Like the concept Psychological Reactance discusses, I felt my freedom of choice when it came to alcohol and tattoos was being threatened, so I fought against my mom in order to reassert that freedom. Furthermore, since I felt my mom was really pushing and wanting me to get a tattoo, this lead to me having a negative attitude change, and forming the total opposite opinion of what she was aiming for.
Of course now I do have a tattoo and drink alcohol from time to time, but the decision to get a tattoo and start drinking were made in situations where I didn’t perceive me freedom of choice was being threatened and therefore could make the decision on my own. My mom is very pleased with these developments since she gave up a long time ago trying to convince me to get a tattoo, and she says she would rather me legally drink alcohol than do anything else illegally.
Brehm, S.S., & Brehm, J.W. (1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control. New York: Academic Press.
Heller, J.F., Pallak, M.S., & Picek, J.M. (1973). The interactive effects of intent and threat on boomerang attitude change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 273-279.
This concept reminded me of being a teenager, when anything your parents told you to do, say, or think was wrong, and the need to do the opposite was immense. In terms of my teenage years, the biggest things I rebelled against had to deal with tattoos and alcohol, and it wasn’t in the way most people would think. My mom loved to go out, drink, and dance, while I preferred to stay home with a book. Furthermore, she has about twelve tattoos and will probably get another one by the time you read this blog. Growing up around her, especially during my teen years, she would always offer me a sip of her alcohol drink and ask me what kind of tattoos I was going to get when I was older. Overall, she gave the impression that I was expected to love tattoos and give them as soon as possible. And since, at the time, I felt she was trying to control me, I fought against it. I rebelled by forming and stating the opinion that I hated alcohol and tattoos, and would not ever drink alcohol or get a tattoo. Like the concept Psychological Reactance discusses, I felt my freedom of choice when it came to alcohol and tattoos was being threatened, so I fought against my mom in order to reassert that freedom. Furthermore, since I felt my mom was really pushing and wanting me to get a tattoo, this lead to me having a negative attitude change, and forming the total opposite opinion of what she was aiming for.
Of course now I do have a tattoo and drink alcohol from time to time, but the decision to get a tattoo and start drinking were made in situations where I didn’t perceive me freedom of choice was being threatened and therefore could make the decision on my own. My mom is very pleased with these developments since she gave up a long time ago trying to convince me to get a tattoo, and she says she would rather me legally drink alcohol than do anything else illegally.
Brehm, S.S., & Brehm, J.W. (1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control. New York: Academic Press.
Heller, J.F., Pallak, M.S., & Picek, J.M. (1973). The interactive effects of intent and threat on boomerang attitude change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 273-279.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Participant Observer Blog: The One About Me, IAT, and Prejudice
Back in the day, a large majority of people used to wear their prejudices with pride, at least in the United States. They would state firmly that their beliefs were fact, and that the white man was better than everyone else is every way. Specifically, prejudice is negative feelings toward a group and its members, and, nowadays, most people would rather die than be seen as having any sort of prejudices. Unfortunately, people’s fear of being seen as prejudice does not mean those thoughts and feelings no longer exist. Instead, people mask or hide their socially unacceptable thoughts, but still these thoughts do tend to come up in subtle ways. A term used to describe this phenomenon is Modern Racism, or a form of prejudice that is revealed in subtle ways when the prejudice is socially safe and acceptable and also can be rationalized (Hass, Katz, Rizzo, Bailey, & Moore, 1992). Though the term points specifically to racism, it can be easily applied to sexism or prejudice against different sexualities, etc.
Since these prejudice thoughts are less direct and outright than they used to be, measuring them accurately has become more difficult. In an attempt to solve this problem and find a way to measure these prejudices, the Implicit Associates Test (IAT) was developed (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Though initially developed to measure racism, other IATs were later developed to measure prejudices against gender, sexuality, religion, and more. In terms of how it works, the Race IAT, for example, tests implicit prejudices by first instructing the participants to categorize faces, of which only the eyes and nose are shown, into either of African or European origin. To do this the participant would press ‘E’ for African origin, which was on the left side, or ‘I’ for European origin, which was on the right side. After quickly completely this task, the participant was then instructed to classify words, such as joy and agony, into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ categories. Then the different concepts were paired together for the participant to classify. For instance, first ‘good’ and ‘African’ would be paired and ‘bad’ and ‘European’ would be paired, then the reverse would take place. Specifically, what is meant by being ‘paired together’ is that both the ‘good’ words and ‘African’ faces would be classified on the same side, or by pressing the same button. How quickly the participant was able to classify these faces and words in the same direction would be influenced by how they implicitly felt towards people of African and European origin. For example, if they unconsciously connected ‘bad’ with ‘African’ and ‘good’ with ‘European’, the participant would be able to quickly categorize the faces and words when bad/African and good/European were paired together, but would have difficulty and would perhaps hesitate more when good/African and bad/European were paired together. Other IATs dealing with things such as sexuality and religion work in similar fashion.
For my first experience with the Implicit Associates Tests, I completed the Race IAT. After the test was over, I was given the result that I had ‘little to no preference between people of African or European origin’. I can’t say I was surprised, but that was probably due to the fact that the results matched by conscious beliefs. This result didn’t surprise me because, growing up, my peers and friends consisted of people from many different origins, including African and European origins. Furthermore, after ruminating on it some more, I realized I meet all the requirements under the Contact Hypothesis, which is the theory that argues direct, persistent interactions with hostile or opposing groups will diminish prejudice, but only under specific conditions (Allport, 1954). Those conditions being that the contact should take place in a situation that gives the groups equal status, personal interactions, cooperative activities, and social norms that favor intergroup contact. All these conditions were met in my schools, so it makes sense that any prejudice I might have had would be extinguished or reduced to a very small amount. It is difficult to say, because it might just be because I want it to be true, but I do believe the test is showing my true self. I can honestly say I feel no conscious prejudice towards either white or black people.
After completing my first IAT, I chose the Sexuality IAT to complete next. It worked in a similar fashion to the Race IAT, but, instead of black or white faces, it had images and words related to either heterosexuality or homosexuality. My results revealed that I have a strong preference towards gay people over straight people, and, again, I wasn’t very surprised. Though I was surprised at how strong of a preference I have towards gay people, gay rights and issues have always been important to me. And though, in terms of the Contact Hypothesis, I should not have prejudice towards either straight or gay people, I believe my investment in gay rights leaded me to form a bias against straight people, though I am myself straight. In other words, I don’t believe I am truly biased against straight people. It’s not as if I hesitate to sit next to or talk to a straight person. But I do believe my personal investment, in terms of the equal treatment for LGBT people, caused me to be biased in favor of homosexuality in the test, and, in that way, I don’t believe this test really revealed my ‘true’ attitude nor matched my conscious beliefs.
For my final test, I completed the Religion IAT, which specifically deals with possible prejudice towards Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. I was given the results that I preferred Christianity and Buddhism equally, then Islam, and lastly, Judaism. Moreover, the differences between preferences (i.e. between Christianity/Buddhism and Islam, Islam and Judaism) were not very big or strong, but, nevertheless, did exist. Of all the results I had been given, this was the one I was truly surprised at receiving. Consciously, Judaism is the religion I am most interested in, yet this test says I prefer it the least. If anything, I believed I would prefer Christianity the least, which I admit I have a slight conscious prejudice towards. Needless to say, these results did not match my conscious beliefs. Nor do I believe they revealed my ‘true’ attitudes, instead I think they illuminated my lack of exposure to certain religions. I have had countless exposures to Christianity and have taken a class on Buddhism, but have had very little experience with Islam or Judaism. In other words, I was unfamiliar with the words associated with Islam and Judaism, and that is what caused me to hesitate when classifying them.
Overall, completing these IATs did make me think of stereotypes and prejudice differently. I often pride myself on having no prejudices, but these tests made me realize how easily and unknowingly prejudices can be formed. Since the Religion IAT is the one that bothered me the most, I decided to take it again. This time, instead of Buddhism, Hinduism was used in the test, which has some similarities with Buddhism, and I had some experience with it in my Buddhism class. I made an effort to complete the test that would reveal less prejudice, but sadly I failed. I received similar results to the first time I completed the test, only this time Islam and Judaism were equal on the scale. Though the results bother me, they make me think more highly of the IAT and believe that it perhaps does measure those unconscious, implicit prejudices we may or may not have. These test results also motivate me to gain more exposure and experience, in terms of different religions, in order to lessen my prejudice.
Allport, G.W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Greenwald, A.G, McGhee, D.E., & Schwartz, J.L.K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197-216.
Hass, R.G., Katz, I., Rizzo, N., Bailey, J., & Moore, L. (1992). When racial ambivalence evokes negative affect, using a disguised measure of mood. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 786-797.
Since these prejudice thoughts are less direct and outright than they used to be, measuring them accurately has become more difficult. In an attempt to solve this problem and find a way to measure these prejudices, the Implicit Associates Test (IAT) was developed (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Though initially developed to measure racism, other IATs were later developed to measure prejudices against gender, sexuality, religion, and more. In terms of how it works, the Race IAT, for example, tests implicit prejudices by first instructing the participants to categorize faces, of which only the eyes and nose are shown, into either of African or European origin. To do this the participant would press ‘E’ for African origin, which was on the left side, or ‘I’ for European origin, which was on the right side. After quickly completely this task, the participant was then instructed to classify words, such as joy and agony, into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ categories. Then the different concepts were paired together for the participant to classify. For instance, first ‘good’ and ‘African’ would be paired and ‘bad’ and ‘European’ would be paired, then the reverse would take place. Specifically, what is meant by being ‘paired together’ is that both the ‘good’ words and ‘African’ faces would be classified on the same side, or by pressing the same button. How quickly the participant was able to classify these faces and words in the same direction would be influenced by how they implicitly felt towards people of African and European origin. For example, if they unconsciously connected ‘bad’ with ‘African’ and ‘good’ with ‘European’, the participant would be able to quickly categorize the faces and words when bad/African and good/European were paired together, but would have difficulty and would perhaps hesitate more when good/African and bad/European were paired together. Other IATs dealing with things such as sexuality and religion work in similar fashion.
For my first experience with the Implicit Associates Tests, I completed the Race IAT. After the test was over, I was given the result that I had ‘little to no preference between people of African or European origin’. I can’t say I was surprised, but that was probably due to the fact that the results matched by conscious beliefs. This result didn’t surprise me because, growing up, my peers and friends consisted of people from many different origins, including African and European origins. Furthermore, after ruminating on it some more, I realized I meet all the requirements under the Contact Hypothesis, which is the theory that argues direct, persistent interactions with hostile or opposing groups will diminish prejudice, but only under specific conditions (Allport, 1954). Those conditions being that the contact should take place in a situation that gives the groups equal status, personal interactions, cooperative activities, and social norms that favor intergroup contact. All these conditions were met in my schools, so it makes sense that any prejudice I might have had would be extinguished or reduced to a very small amount. It is difficult to say, because it might just be because I want it to be true, but I do believe the test is showing my true self. I can honestly say I feel no conscious prejudice towards either white or black people.
After completing my first IAT, I chose the Sexuality IAT to complete next. It worked in a similar fashion to the Race IAT, but, instead of black or white faces, it had images and words related to either heterosexuality or homosexuality. My results revealed that I have a strong preference towards gay people over straight people, and, again, I wasn’t very surprised. Though I was surprised at how strong of a preference I have towards gay people, gay rights and issues have always been important to me. And though, in terms of the Contact Hypothesis, I should not have prejudice towards either straight or gay people, I believe my investment in gay rights leaded me to form a bias against straight people, though I am myself straight. In other words, I don’t believe I am truly biased against straight people. It’s not as if I hesitate to sit next to or talk to a straight person. But I do believe my personal investment, in terms of the equal treatment for LGBT people, caused me to be biased in favor of homosexuality in the test, and, in that way, I don’t believe this test really revealed my ‘true’ attitude nor matched my conscious beliefs.
For my final test, I completed the Religion IAT, which specifically deals with possible prejudice towards Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. I was given the results that I preferred Christianity and Buddhism equally, then Islam, and lastly, Judaism. Moreover, the differences between preferences (i.e. between Christianity/Buddhism and Islam, Islam and Judaism) were not very big or strong, but, nevertheless, did exist. Of all the results I had been given, this was the one I was truly surprised at receiving. Consciously, Judaism is the religion I am most interested in, yet this test says I prefer it the least. If anything, I believed I would prefer Christianity the least, which I admit I have a slight conscious prejudice towards. Needless to say, these results did not match my conscious beliefs. Nor do I believe they revealed my ‘true’ attitudes, instead I think they illuminated my lack of exposure to certain religions. I have had countless exposures to Christianity and have taken a class on Buddhism, but have had very little experience with Islam or Judaism. In other words, I was unfamiliar with the words associated with Islam and Judaism, and that is what caused me to hesitate when classifying them.
Overall, completing these IATs did make me think of stereotypes and prejudice differently. I often pride myself on having no prejudices, but these tests made me realize how easily and unknowingly prejudices can be formed. Since the Religion IAT is the one that bothered me the most, I decided to take it again. This time, instead of Buddhism, Hinduism was used in the test, which has some similarities with Buddhism, and I had some experience with it in my Buddhism class. I made an effort to complete the test that would reveal less prejudice, but sadly I failed. I received similar results to the first time I completed the test, only this time Islam and Judaism were equal on the scale. Though the results bother me, they make me think more highly of the IAT and believe that it perhaps does measure those unconscious, implicit prejudices we may or may not have. These test results also motivate me to gain more exposure and experience, in terms of different religions, in order to lessen my prejudice.
Allport, G.W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Greenwald, A.G, McGhee, D.E., & Schwartz, J.L.K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197-216.
Hass, R.G., Katz, I., Rizzo, N., Bailey, J., & Moore, L. (1992). When racial ambivalence evokes negative affect, using a disguised measure of mood. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 786-797.
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