Saturday, June 09, 2007

preferences

'You have a strong preference for white [people] over black [people].'

that was the result i got from taking the IAT test, which was featured on Oprah last week. it's a test to show you how you REALLY feel beneath all your layers about certain people.

so it told me i prefer white over black. i honestly don't see how i wouldn't subconsciously prefer white people, having grown up in portland. white people all around was always my environment. when i was a kid, i fit right in. as far as i was concerned, i was just like them.

it doesn't mean i don't like being black. i definitely do.

whatevs.

13 comments:

Falone said...

I was curious, so I did this myself... I found out that I have a slight automatic preference for black features, and a strong automatic preference for dark skin vs. light skin. I think it pegged me accurately lol.

Anonymous said...

I did the same and the result I got wasn't surprising, maybe its because I've made so many mistakes. But it said that I have a preference for Europeans, what can I say I'm married to one lol. Funny thing is I don't think its whom your around constantly, as I was born and raised in a city that is 99.9% all black.

Foofa said...

I had a slight preference for white people. However, it seems that you get very trained on identifying things on a particular side early in the test and that could impact things. The fact that my computer screen is always dark also caused me to make some errors. If I looked at groups as a whole I prefer black people to white while individually it may go the other way.

Anonymous said...

I took 2 different tests and based on the way they paired things initially will determine your immediate response when they change the pairings. For instance, the black americans were always paired with the bad words/weapons first; white americans with the good words/harmless. If they changed the pairings initially (white americans/bad; black americans/good) i think you would find different results perhaps.

Anonymous said...

According to the test, I show moderate preference for light skin over black skin. I am not surprised really. Most test takers show slight to strong preference for light skin instead of dark.

Anonymous said...

I took the test a while back and I was also told that I had a preference for whites. It's not really surprising though, living in America. This is a country dominated by the European idea, with whites (well really rich white men) as the achievers, the founders, the idea person. I mean when you think of an American, what image comes up in your mind? It's probably not the image of a person of color. That's just the way we're taught. It's in our history books, and our tv shows, and our magazines. There are just certain charactersitics that people think are better. White, Slender, Rich, Educated, etc. Preferences wouldn't be a problem if they didn't lead to discrimination.

Ndelible said...

I think this test was covered in Blink - about our subconscious associations with race. Apparently, the faster the test (the less time the tester has to respond), the more negative the associations with black/blackness. The more time the tester had to respond, the more nuanced and even handed the responses. The point of that chapter was that sometimes our first instinct is not our best.

Anonymous said...

Opinion continued: I'm only 19, so you can take my opinion as you will, but I just got back from Africa a few weeks ago and I think its really important for all people (but esp. black people of the Diaspora: meaning those whose ancestors were middle passage survivors and slaves in the Americas) to return. I was in Ghana and I really enjoyed being in a country where black people were running things. Ghana only gained its independence 50 yrs ago, but its doing well for a developing country and it proves that under the right circumstances blacks are just as capable as whites. It would be a great place for you to take your husband and kids to visit and its one of the more stable/fairly safe countries in Africa at the moment. Really, skin color is so biologically unimportant that it doesn't make sense to divide people because of it. Unfortunately, in the past Europeans used colorism and racism as a tool to dominate others and the effects of that oppression still linger today. Not that Europeans were the only conquerors. Asians, Africans, and other people of tribal heritage also fought, conquerered and enslaved each other. European oppression is just notable because of the magnitude of its brutality.

Anonymous said...

I have to take that test. I think in this time 2007, blacks between ages of 24 and older prefer whites. Only because they seem more calm. stable. Less in your face see what I can do. All the blacks I have been around are bitchy,too aggressive, super loud or just mean.(rude) Whites are not so confrontational. I am black. I love blacks and what we can be, just right now, at this moment, I am not feeling them.

dalia said...

i took the test, and my results showed a preference for light skin over dark. i was surprised by this, but my friends weren't; apparently they think i have an eye for all things light and bright. this simply isn't true, and i was a little disturbed by the results.

i love being black, i love black people--all shades and hues... lol my girlfriend suggested that perhaps the fact that i'm dating a white guy (and have dated outside of my race in the past) has "coloured" (no pun intended) my viewpoints. i assured her that if i was dating a brother at the time (i love the brothers, too, not just the others) my result would have likely (unfortunately) been the same...

Anonymous said...

You're in denial that you hate black people and even having your own black insecurity.

Anonymous said...

am I the only person that took this test and had a strong preference for african americans over european americans?

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I wouldn't let a stupid test get you mentally. You know who you are and what you like. You should have to lest some test/quiz define that for you!

To anon @8:24,

You're probably just pissed because she know what she likes. Everyone one has insecurities and issues, why make it color/race issue?!