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Week 10 - Q1
This week, we discussed three key areas of training: onboarding, diversity, and harassment. Has any of these areas been a priority for training in your organization? If so, which one(s)? Why do you think your organization considers this training a priority?
Week 10 - Q2
Read the article Two Cultures Collide: Bridging the Generation Gap in a Non-traditional Mentorship (Merriweather & Morgan, 2013) at http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol18/iss6/2/ What can organizations learn about diversity and cross-cultural mentoring from Dr. Lisa and Miss Berta’s story?
Reference
Merriweather, L. R., & Morgan, A. J. (2013). Two cultures collide: Bridging the generation gap in a non-traditional mentorship. The Qualitative Report, 18(6), 1-16. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol18/iss6/
Week 10 - T&D Tool
The T&D tool this week is the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
Today's work force is increasingly diverse. There are more women, older people, and more minorities working today, and their companies are often competing in a global marketplace. Blanchard and Thacker (2013) discuss types of organizational training that involve dealing with differences. Some companies require diversity or cultural awareness training, while others mandate sexual harassment training. Employees who have been given an international assignment may be required to participate in cross-cultural training. A mentor may have a protégé who is of a different gender or race or who has a very different cultural background. An important part of dealing with differences in the work place is being aware of our own attitudes toward people who are not like us. Project Implicit is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching how unconscious social attitudes influence our thoughts and behaviors. You can read more about Project Implicit at this link: http://www.projectimplicit.net/index.html
Project Implicit has created a tool called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Here is some information about the IAT:
Psychologists understand that people may not say what's on their minds either because they are unwilling or because they are unable to do so. For example, if asked "How much do you smoke?" a smoker who smokes 4 packs a day may purposely report smoking only 2 packs a day because they are embarrassed to admit the correct number. Or, the smoker may simply not answer the question, regarding it as a private matter. (These are examples of being unwilling to report a known answer.) But it is also possible that a smoker who smokes 4 packs a day may report smoking only 2 packs because they honestly believe they only smoke about 2 packs a day. (Unknowingly giving an incorrect answer is sometimes called self-deception; this illustrates being unable to give the desired answer). The unwilling-unable distinction is like the difference between purposely hiding something from others and unconsciously hiding something from yourself. The Implicit Association Test makes it possible to penetrate both of these types of hiding. The IAT measures implicit attitudes and beliefs that people are either unwilling or unable to report.
Retrieved from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/background/index.jsp
There are IATs dealing with attitudes about weight, age, race, religion, disability, gender, weapons, and presidents, among other topics. Explore your unconscious attitudes by taking the IAT for a topic that looks interesting to you. Remember that this is a self-assessment and not a judgment; you may disagree with the results. If you would like more information about the IAT, feel free to explore the web site or click on this link to go to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
To begin, read the preliminary information at this link: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html, then click on the I wish to proceed statement at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to a list of IATs. Select and take at least one IAT and post a reflection about the experience. You are not required to reveal which IAT you took or your score. However, please post a reflection giving your opinion about the usefulness of the IAT for diversity or cultural awareness training. If you feel comfortable discussing what you learned about yourself, you can include that in your reflection.
Reference
Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. W. (2013). Effective training: Systems, strategies, and practices (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Results of Weight IAT
Debriefing
The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You categorized good and bad words with images of Fat People and Thin People.
Here is your result:
Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Thin people over Fat people.
Your result is described as an "Automatic preference for Fat People over Thin People" if you were faster responding when Fat People and Good are assigned to the same response key than when Thin People and Good were classified with the same key. Your score is described as an "Automatic preference for Thin People over Fat People" if the opposite occurred.
Your automatic preference may be described as "slight", "moderate", "strong", or "no preference". This indicates the strength of your automatic preference.
The IAT requires a certain number of correct responses in order to get results. If you made too many errors while completing the test you will get the feedback that there were too many errors to determine a result.
Note that your IAT result is based only on the categorization task and not on the questions that you answered.
You have completed the study.
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Your result:
Your data suggest a strong automatic preference for Thin people over Fat people.
The sorting test you just took is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). You categorized good and bad words with images of Fat people and Thin people.
Disclaimer:The results are not a definitive assessment of your implicit preference. The results may be influenced by variables related to the test (e.g., the category labels or particular items used to represent the categories on the IAT) or the person (e.g., how tired you are). The results are provided for educational purposes only.
How Does The IAT Work?
The IAT measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., Fat people and Thin people) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad). The main idea is that making a response is easier when closely related items share the same response key. We would say that one has an implicit preference for Thin people relative to Fat people if they are faster to categorize words when Thin people and Good share a response key relative to when Fat people and Good share a response key.
Why Should I Care About My IAT Score?
Implicit preferences can predict behavior. Implicit preferences are related to discrimination in hiring and promotion, medical treatment, and decisions related to criminal justice.
What Can I Do About an Implicit Preference That I Do Not Want?
Right now, there is not enough research to say for sure that implicit biases can be reduced, let alone eliminated. Packaged "diversity trainings" generally do not use evidence-based methods of reducing implicit biases. Therefore, we encourage people to instead focus on strategies that deny implicit biases the chance to operate, such as blind auditions and well-designed "structured" decision processes.
Other People's Results
The summary of other people's results shows that most people implicitly prefer thin people to fat people - i.e., they are faster sorting when good words and thin images go with the same key. Notably, about 40% of the people included in this graph report having no preference between the two weight categories
What About Order Effects?
One very common question is about the order of the parts of the IAT. The answer is yes, the order in which you take the test can influence your overall results. But, the effect is very small. So if you first pair fat people + bad and then pair fat people + good, your results might be just a tiny bit more negative than they would be if you had done the reverse pairing first. One way that we try to minimize this order effect is by giving more practice trials before the second pairing than we did before the first pairing. It is also important to know that each participant is randomly assigned to an order, so half of test-takers complete fat people + bad and then fat people + good, and the other half of test-takers get the opposite order.
I Still Have Questions About The IAT
If you have questions about your IAT performance or score, please consult the links at the top of the page, where you will find answers to frequently asked questions, links to related research, and additional information about implicit associations. You may also email us with questions or comments.
Your Participation And Financial Support Are Important!
Thank you again for participating in this research! We have learned so much from people like you taking the time to be part of our work. If you have time, please consider taking another test by clicking the button below. As a non-profit organization, we would also appreciate your financial support. Since establishment in 2005, we have educated more than a million visitors each year about implicit biases concerning race, gender, sexual orientation, and other topics. Your donation supports Project Implicit's educational, scientific, and public service missions. Click here to donate.
