Experience With the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Implicit Prejudice
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Implicit Association Test (IAT)
The IAT measures implicit beliefs and attitudes. It conducts an assessment of the strength of association between various concepts. I took the Gender-career IAT, which looks at associations between family and gender and gender and career.
The Gender-Career IAT entails sorting words into various categories, including family, career, male, and female. The test checks the strength of a person’s implicit associations between the categories/concepts. My results showed ‘moderate automatic association for male with career and female with family.’ The results mean I have a stronger implicit bias associating women with family and men with careers.
My results surprised me and brought slight discomfort. I have always considered myself a strong advocate for gender equality. I find myself questioning and challenging gender stereotypes and gender biases. Therefore, I was surprised that my results showed implicit associations that reinforce traditional gender roles. However, I realized that my subconscious thinking may have been influenced by the way I have been conditioned in my culture and norms in society, despite my conscious beliefs and actions being associated with gender equality.
The Gender-Career IAT results suggested that an implicit bias exists within me that associates men with careers and women with family. The implicit bias may be stemming from cultural conditioning and societal norms. These reinforce the traditional gender roles. Some of the sources of implicit bias include the media, education, and family upbringing. However, I realize that implicit biases do not necessarily reflect my conscious beliefs and