Association Tests

I was looking for something in the book Blink last night, and ran across this test, which I took again. It's called an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and it very effectively measures your association between different concepts. Try the ones below, which are very simple. Just go down the list and as quickly as possible check the mental box on whether the names go left (MALE) or right (FEMALE). (Sorry for the dots as separation, but spaces didn't do the formatting I needed.)


MALE................FEMALE
_________ John _________
_________ Bob _________
_________ Amy _________
_________ Holly _________
_________ Joan _________
________ Derek _________
_________ Peggy _________
_________ Jason _________
_________ Lisa _________
_________ Matt _________
_________ Sarah _________

That was pretty easy, right? Now try one a little more complex. Mentally check the left box if the word or name is associated with either MALE or CAREER, and the right box if associated with either FEMALE or FAMILY. Remember, go as fast as you can.

MALE or............FEMALE or
CAREER.............FAMILY
_________ Lisa _________
_________ Matt _________
_________ Laundry_________
______ Entrepreneur ______
_________ John ___________
________ Merchant_________
__________ Bob _________
_______ Capitalist_______
______ Corporation ______
_________ Siblings________
_________ Peggy _________
_________ Jason ________
________ Kitchen ________
_______ Housework _______
________ Parents _________
_________ Sarah _________
_________ Derek _________

OK, still not bad. Now try this: MALE or FAMILY on the left and FEMALE or CAREER on the right. Go fast. Don't say "Male" etc., but rather go left or right.

MALE or..............FEMALE or
FAMILY................CAREER
_________ Babies _________
_________ Sarah _________
_________ Derek _________
________ Merchant _________
_______ Employment_________
_________ John __________
__________ Bob ___________
_________ Holly ___________
_______ Domestic _________
______ Entrepreneur _______
_________ Office __________
_________ Jason ___________
_________ Joan ___________
________ Peggy ___________
________ Cousins __________
______ Grandparents ________
__________Jason __________
_________ Home ___________
_________ Lisa _________
______ Corporation ________
_________ Matt ___________

Hmmmm. Not quite so easy, huh? Take more time? For me it did, because I'm stuck with associations of males/career and female/family. There's an even more difficult one in the book about our associations with blacks. Even the author, Malcolm Gladwell, couldn't escape standard stereotypes, even though he is African-American. There are more of these online at www.implicit.harvard.edu although I didn't like them as much as these simple ones.