1. David Yang<br />2011/2/1<br />Senior Seminar 6<br />IAT Test<br />Do you agree with the argument that we are completely oblivious to our unconsciously motivated behavior (like the disturbing IAT results that show 80% of test-takers have pro-white associations?) Is this just a convenient excuse to justify our biases?<br />I disagree with the argument that we are completely oblivious to our unconsciously motivated behavior to a large extent. This is because for example although when we first get the result from the IAT tests, we don’t understand how and why the test result shows that 80% of test-takers have pro-white associations, but if we really take some time to think about it, all our surroundings have affected us in a way that we have a more favorable race in our minds without us even noticing it. For example, the movies we see every day on TV or in theaters mostly come from Hollywood, and most of the cast in most of the movies are white people. These movie stars tend to be popular and make a lot of money; therefore it’s logical for people to want to be like the movie stars. Another example is how most of the top models are white people, even in Asia. When large companies in Asia make an advertisement, they tend to look for white models. So with the above reasons, I think we are oblivious to our unconsciously motivated behavior, but we just don’t know it yet or don’t have the courage to admit it. So it should not be a convenient excuse to justify our biases. <br />i. I took the Gender-Career test, and my result was that “Your data suggest a slight association of Male with Career and Female with Family compared to Female with Career and Male with Family”. It meets my expectations because in my culture, wives normally stay home and take care of the family while their husbands go to work and provide for the family. My mom is a house wife while my dad goes to work, so I guess that also creates my expectation of male-career and female-family. <br />ii. Some theories from class that is apparent in my experience include expectations. Since I expect female to be associated with family, while male should be associated with career, it strongly influences my answers for the IAT test. Other theories that were also apparent include the news media, cultural tradition and second-hand knowledge. These theories all have direct influence on my answers when I was doing the IAT test.<br />