Generally speaking, people do not want to become associated with the term “racism”. “Racism” conjures strong images of slavery, torture, and genocide of specific ethnic groups. It is important to note, however, that these barbarous acts are a result of racism. By addressing the abstract concept of racism itself and how a culture can foster it, society can consciously keep such racism in check, eventually overcoming it. Oftentimes, people will go out of their way to prove that they are not racists. The problem is, however, that racism is almost always embedded within the subconscious mind.
Oftentimes, people associate terms (such as poor, horrible, violent) with ethnic, age, or gender qualities (such as black, old, or female). Such implicit associations occur without conscious effort and foster social division. It is, therefore, important, that society be made aware of its subconscious racist tendencies if it has any hopes of addressing them. The Implicit Association Test (IAT), developed by “research scientists at Harvard University, the University of Washington, and the University of Virginia” helps to bring implicit racism to light while simultaneously providing scientists with an excellent research tool (Bar-Anan Website).
The purpose of the IAT test is to indicate whether or not the test-taker has any overt or implicit stereotypes. There are several IAT’s for different topics such as an Asian IAT, a Disability IAT, and a Gender IAT. (Nosek Website). The manner by which the IAT operates is rather simple. For instance, the purpose of the Age IAT is to detect a bias in relation to “young” and “old” people. A series of faces appear on the screen and the user must sort out which face appears “young” and which one is “old”. As the test continues, the user must then sort a series of faces and words into the category of “young and bad” and “old and good”. Finally, the relationship is switched with the user having to sort the faces and words into either the “young and good” or “old and bad” category (Nosek Website). A person with a strong bias in favor of young people would have sorted the “young and good” category a lot faster than the “young and bad” category. A person with no apparent bias would have sorted each category just as fast (Nosek).
In a peer-reviewed study published in 2005, researchers used a customized Implicit Association Test in conjunction with a questionnaire to gauge Christian sentiment towards Muslims (Rowatt 29). Since facial features do not necessitate religious affiliations, test subjects sorted Christian and Muslim terminology rather than faces (Rowatt 34). The results shown indicate that it took the test subjects approximately 887.14 milliseconds to sort each term into the “positive and Christian” category as well as the “negative and Muslim” category (Rowatt 36). When sorting terms into the “negative and Christian” and “positive and Muslim” categories, however, it took the participants 1174.62 milliseconds to sort each incongruent word (Rowatt 36). The difference in reaction time indicates that a notable implicit bias against Muslims is present within the Christian community.
This implicit racism already has a profound effect on society. Even in a seemingly unrelated topic, the mental health care system of England, implicit racism has seen to it that white and black patients are often treated differently (Secker 161). This results in black mental patients being"locked in wards", obtaining unsatisfactory diagnoseses, and being assessed as a threat to the community more so than white mental patients (Secker 161). Since Western culture is still dealing with negative implicit associations of ethnic minorities with terms such as "violent", this problem persists in virtually every facet of society.
Implicit associations that society makes everyday has a profound effect upon how we treat other people. Furthermore, implicit racism is a contributing factor to the poisonous notion that war is inevitable. To take sides with your nation and alienate other people groups you do not associate with is an unfortunate side effect of the subconscious racism that we must all work hard to resolve.
Works cited:
Bar-Anan, Yoav, Scott Akalis, Christina Fong, et al. Project Implicit. Project Implicit Team, 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2009.
Nosek, Brian, Mahzarin Banaji, and Tony Greenwald. Project Implicit. Harvard University, 2008. Web. 19 Oct. 2009.
Rowatt, Wade C., Lewis M. Franklin, and Maria Cotton. “Patterns and Personality correlates of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Christians and Muslims.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44 (2005): 29-43.
Secker, J. and C. Harding. "African and African Caribbean user's perceptions of inpatient service." Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 9.2 (2002): 161-167.
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