Activity 2.5 - Automaticity and Implicit Associations

True confession time, this was not my first time participating in the Implicit Association Test (IAT).   I remember taking it after reading about it in the Gladwell book and again after watching the Dateline segment when it first aired.  I cannot, however, recall my scores from those earlier times.  I also cannot remember any soul-searching reaction to them either.  So I do have a prior knowledge of the intent and use of IAT.

For this assignment, I participated in two of the studies.  First was the Four Category Race BIAT with the following results of positive association:  Asian people, Black people, Hispanic people, and White people.   The results clustered around the center of the scale.  Why?   Second was the IAT based upon the current election cycle.   The results from this second attempt indicated a stronger implicit association between Romney and Mormonism than Obama and Mormonism.  Again I do not feel unduly burdened by these results. 

While I have some doubts about the effectiveness of the IAT, I recognize that the test does tell us about associations and memory.    If one does not experience another cultural group on a daily basis or the information that one does receive is negative, it is easy to note and understand the formation of the associations.