Thinking about thinking.

In the ‘mess with your own head’ category, http://implicit.harvard.edu/. It presents a series of what are essentially relative-speed tests to expose implicit bias. (With the notable aside that these are snap-judgment attitudes, not thoughtful tendencies.)  Normally, I find such tests a trifle banal; they take far too long to do for the little bit of meaning they offer, and with Meyers-Briggs and Big-5 indexes, too easily thought through. (Would you like to be an Extrovert today?)

IATs, however, are interesting in that they’re fast (well under ~5 mins) and they gauge not speed or accuracy but relative speed and accuracy. They’re testing you against yourself, by asking first that you associate two pairs of categories as fast as you can, then switching the pairs. Your relative speed/accuracy is intended to show your tendencies;apparently, you’re roughly half as fast/accurate when matching pairs you don’t inherently associate.

Accurate? Who knows. But entertaining, and (according to the studies) often totally contrary to concious atittudes and expressions. If it makes you think, it was probably worth the time.

-N. Noctis