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2. Blink in Black and White

Over the past few years, a number of psychologists have begun to look more closely at the role these kinds of unconscious — or, as they like to call them, implicit — associations play in our beliefs and behavior, and much of their work has focused on a very fascinating tool called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The IAT was devised by Anthony G. Greenwald, Mahzarin Banaji, and Brian Nosek, and it is based on a seemingly obvious — but nonetheless quite profound — observation. We make connections much more quickly between pairs of ideas that are already related in our minds than we do between pairs of ideas that are unfamiliar to us. What does that mean? Let me give you an example. Below is a list of words. Take a pencil or pen and assign each name to the category to which it belongs by putting a check mark either to the left or to the right of the word. You can also do it by tapping your finger in the appropriate column. Do it as quickly as you can. Don’t skip over words. And don’t worry if you make any mistakes.

Male

Female

.........................John........................

.........................Bob.........................

.........................Amy........................

.........................Holly......................

.........................Joan........................

.........................Derek......................

.........................Peggy......................

.........................Jason.......................

.........................Lisa.........................

.........................Matt........................

.........................Sarah......................

That was easy, right? And the reason that was easy is that when we read or hear the name “John” or “Bob” or “Holly,” we don’t even have to think about whether it’s a masculine or a feminine name. We all have a strong prior association between a first name like John and the male gender, or a name like Lisa and things female.

That was a warm-up. Now let’s complete an actual IAT. It works like the warm-up, except that now I’m going to mix two entirely separate categories together. Once again, put a check mark to either the right or the left of each word, in the category to which it belongs.

Male

Female

or

or

Carreer

Family

.........................Lisa....................................

.........................Matt....................................

.........................Laundry..............................

.........................Entrepreneur......................

.........................John....................................

.........................Merchant............................

.........................Bob.....................................

.........................Capitalist............................

.........................Holly...................................

.........................Joan.....................................

.........................Home...................................

.........................Corporation.........................

.........................Siblings................................

.........................Peggy...................................

.........................Jason....................................

.........................Kitchen................................

.........................Housework..........................

.........................Parents.................................

.........................Sarah....................................

.........................Derek...................................

My guess is that most of you found that a little harder, but that you were still pretty fast at putting the words into the right categories. Now try this:

Male

Female

or

or

Family

Career

.........................Babies................................

.........................Sarah..................................