Nurses Meeting Different Cultural Backgrounds Half Way

Implicit Association Test for Nurses

I selected the European-American/African-American IAT. I chose it because it seemed like a controversial one. I think I associated this test with controversy largely due to the history of race relations within the United States. Additionally, I was curious to see how this computer program would be able to determine whether someone had a preference for European-Americans or African-Americans.

I was not surprised by the results of the test. The results of the test stated that I have a preference for European-American people. I disagree with the results of the test -- I certainly do not have a preference for European-Americans. In fact, I do not have a blanket preference for one or the other of these groups. Life is full of different situations, some of which are antipodes of one another and which provide great variation. There are some situations which I have encountered in which I have a preference for European-Americans, and some in which I have a preference for African-Americans. I do not simply intrinsically favor one group over the other. At the same time, however, I am not surprised that the results claim I favor European-Americans. I would have been surprised had the results stated anything else, in fact. Since this study was related to Harvard, I certainly expected it to try some cheesy tricks such as polarizing people according to race, and innately stating that people just love European-Americans -- when they do not. However, I certainly disagree with the results. There are probably more situations in which I prefer African-Americans that European-Americans. However, the point is that a preference (when there even is one, because in many situations there is no preference) is largely contingent upon a specific situation which has a host of mitigating factors, and cannot be determined by polarization or the speed at which an individual clicks a button.

3. I do not plan to change or alter my thinking due to the results of this particular test. Like I mentioned before, I do not believe that I generally or generically have a preference for European-Americans any more than I do for African-Americans. In all actuality, taking this test provided the first time for me even to ear of the term European-American. However, I do not believe that this notion of preference even applies. There are too many different situations in which one might have a preference for one person or another, a male or a female, a European-American or an African-American, for such a concept to apply. Also, I do not think that the dichotomy presented in this test was realistic. The test started off by associating a host of perceivably positive words with European-Americans. Some of these words included laughter, joy, and other such things. Then, the test required readers to assign the opposite words to individuals of decidedly darker skin. This presentation of the test itself is indicative of a bias which one would have believed that Harvard researchers would have been able to catch and account for prior to the administration of this test.