Implicit Association Test (IAT)

To save the trouble:

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is an experimental method within social psychology designed to measure the strength of automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory. The IAT requires the rapid categorization of various stimulus objects, such that easier pairings (and faster responses) are interpreted as being more strongly associated in memory than more difficult pairings (slower responses).
-Wikipedia

There're 2 buttons for 2 categories respectively. These categories contain two words. You are to press the buttons to classify pictures or words that appear on the screen as quickly as possible. For instance, you have Thin, Fat, Good and Bad. At one stage, 'Thin' and 'Good' appear in 1 category, and 'Fat' and 'Bad' appear in another. The screen will, say, flash out the image of a thin person or the word 'beautiful'; you are to press the button for the category 'Thin' and 'Good'. Of course, you have the other situation, in which 'Thin' and 'Bad' appear in 1 category, and 'Good' and 'Fat' in the other. The result's supposed to tell you whether you associate 'Fat' with good or bad, and 'Thin' with good or bad. Very interesting, and difficult to lie too, because they record your reaction time, which is largely accurate provided that you don't try to beat the system and do it at your own leisurely pace.

So I tried a few. Turns out that I have preferences which are very very very disturbing, the kind of I-think-I-am-such-but-actually-I-am-not feeling. But of course this is only "implicit", in the subconcious, so I can (and I am), with my rational mind, curbing it and manifesting the belief that I think is right.

So here're the results:
Neutral-->Slight-->moderate-->strong
1. Moderate preference of Asian Americans being American to European being American (erm, because I'm a Chinese and I'm not American)

2. Your data suggest a slight association of Male with Science and Female with Liberal Arts compared to Female with Science and Male with Liberal Arts. (apparently. stereotyping I guess)

3. Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for Young compared to Old. (only a slight. But I've always thought that the old possesses experience and a better moral compass, while the young are energetic, creative and productive, so I was expecting a neutral)

4. Your data suggest little or no association between Female and Male with Career and Family. (now that's surprising. I live with 'traditional' people all my life, so I assumed that I was imbued with stereotypes of male-career, female-family. I guess it's because my mum's working)

Try it yourself at https://implicit.harvard.edu/, and be shocked by how your inner mind works. But don't take it too seriously. As I said, these associations can be controlled by the rational mind from outward manifestations. Besides, you can always change associations. E.g. if you have a preference for whites over blacks, you can watch athletics or basketball or Martin Luther King or Nelson Mendela. This can change your preference fairly drastically.

Of course, all that I've been saying is paraphrased from Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Good book, good examples about what snap judgments are about, pros and cons of it. But too brief about how to make good snap judgments, how one can train oneself to be able to do so.

So if you want to know more, read Blink.

This is not an advertisement. Just a recommendation.

Yes, an implicit advertisement. Watever.