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March 01, 2004

Race & Weapons

Over at Tolerance.org, they've got some interesting tests, rather like the Implicit Assumption Tests. Since this morning I'm obsessing over race and last week I went shooting, I thought I'd mix the two together and see how I fared. I'm actually pretty good, or I test pretty well.

Your data suggest little or no automatic racial association with Weapons or Harmless Objects

The score above has already been corrected for the order that you performed the task. If your score was 'Inconclusive', click here. Compare your score above with the distribution of all respondents scores below.

This table does NOT contain your data. This data is from a random subset of others who completed this task, and reflects the percentage of people who fell into each level of bias or no bias.
Interpretation Percent of Total Respondents

  • Strong automatic association between African Americans and weapons 29%
  • Moderate automatic association between African Americans and weapons 13%
  • Slight automatic association between African Americans and weapons 23%
  • Little to no automatic racial association with weapons or harmless objects 26%
  • Slight automatic association between European Americans and weapons 5%
  • Moderate automatic association between European Americans and weapons 3%
  • Strong automatic association between European Americans and weapons 1%

    If your test showed a "preference" for a group, the result points to a hidden, or unconscious bias. The results of over one million tests show that unconscious bias exists in most of us.

    • I favor these tests because I firmly believe that they can be indicative of what people really believe. In my time as the Boohab, arguing about race with people realtime all over the net, I concluded that it's about what people believe and the reasons for that which are mostly to account for racism in this nation. Unfortunately most debates about race don't get to such matters, rather they focus on external events and ethical behavior in response to racial conflict.

    As an aside, I made a couple mistakes during the test which I think the researchers might find significant. I twice misidentified a black maglite flashlight as a weapon instead of a harmless object. Can you guess why?

    Posted by mbowen at March 1, 2004 10:26 AM

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    Comments

    Why do you say "misidentified"? Very few people who carry the 5 D cell black maglite carry it for its light producing qualities. I believe that the fact that it doubles as a billy club makes it doubly useful to police departments that use it as a standard issue tool.

    Posted by: Dan Lyke at March 1, 2004 01:45 PM

    I wouldnt take too much from mistaking the flashlight. As a society we have been pushed and bombarded by the media to believe that we are going to be rapped, robbed, beaten, or generaly killed anytime we let our guard down. Even I, a person that refuses to watch the news get caught in the brainwashing sometimes.
    And Dan is right. I have several friends that work as Doormen at bars. They carry maglights. Because they are considered non-lethal force. So it is a weapon.

    Posted by: Ed Lyles at March 1, 2004 02:56 PM

    I wouldnt take too much from mistaking the flashlight. As a society we have been pushed and bombarded by the media to believe that we are going to be rapped, robbed, beaten, or generaly killed anytime we let our guard down. Even I, a person that refuses to watch the news get caught in the brainwashing sometimes.
    And Dan is right. I have several friends that work as Doormen at bars. They carry maglights. Because they are considered non-lethal force. So it is a weapon.

    Posted by: Ed Lyles at March 1, 2004 02:58 PM