My major problem with this test is that i am guessing the test order is never randomized. The first difficult task in the test is placing blacks with non-dangerous items and the last test is placing blacks with weapons. Like anything, you are going to start slow and get better as you go. The way the test is put out i am going to do worst at putting blacks with objects and best with putting them with weapons.

My results told me that i have a strong bias to associate blacks with weapons. Not that by the forth go round i had learned all the pictures, how the test worked and was able to improve my reaction time, like any normal human being.

I am betting people who take this multiple times get wildly different results. Anyone?

I only took the test once, and I concur with your argument, Jason. I got a "moderate" bias towards blacks with weapons, supposedly.

I got frustrated because I saw a mag-lite, and clicked the "weapon" button, because that's what I think of when I see a mag-lite. They're not flashlights. They're god-damned police batons with an operational lightbulb in them. Ask any bouncer or cop, and they'll tell you the same thing. A flashlight would have been a better picture.

I don't understand how I got a bias towards black people and weapons as exposed by that test. I felt that I missed the same number of "questions" regardless of what the situation was (and yes, my order was the same as yours. Whites with weapons first).

It seems to me that the test itself is biased. When it was just deciding between color, then between weapons, then between blacks with weapons I had a nearly perfect score, but then by the time I got to the last series I got confused. I wasn't confused because I had to seperate blacks from weapons, I got confused because my mind was already trained by the test. I bet everyone gets the most wrong in the 4th series. And the test automagically assumes you're biased.

The fact that it's created by "Fight and promote tolerance: Tolerance.org" is fishy. I'd rather see a similar test created by an organization that doesn't have a vested interest in trying to prove that most people are intolerant... how else will they get funded? :) It's like a Microsoft sponsored study to prove that Linux has a higher TCO.

I did some more thinking about this test and I came to the conclusion (much as gr0k did) that if this were to be a truly empirical scientific test, no picture should have been repeated twice, due to associations created by that image in a previous category of test.

I took the test only once and I have a neutral association between weapons and race.
I have my personal reservations towards tests, but how do you explain my results?
(By the way, blacks were associated with weapons came first for me.)
Also, the purpose of the test is to examine our "initial reactions". I don't see a point in taking the exam more than once, especially when you know what to expect.

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