So. How racist are you? That's the question asked by an online psychology test by the University of Chicago. The test involves showing you a series of photographs of 100 black or white men, either holding guns or cellphones. You have to decide - in a split second - whether to shoot them or to holster your gun.
Nicholas D. Kristof, a (white) columnist of The New York Times took the test. And discovered this:
I shot armed blacks in an average of 0.679 seconds, while I waited slightly longer — .694 seconds — to shoot armed whites. Conversely, I holstered my gun more quickly when encountering unarmed whites than unarmed blacks.
Take the test yourself and you’ll probably find that you show bias as well. Most whites and many blacks are more quick to shoot blacks, no matter how egalitarian they profess to be.
Eric L. Hinton of Diversity Inc, who is black, also took the test, and found out the same thing:
But what concerns me is that, armed or not, I "shot" Black targets faster than I shot white targets. I shot Black armed targets at an average of 0.631 seconds versus white armed targets at 0.662. Even more disturbing - I shot Black unarmed targets at an average of 0.783 seconds versus white unarmed targets at 0.792.
Fractions of seconds? Yes, but still unsettling when you consider the real life implications of armed police officers who make these life and death decisions in real life situations as they encounter Black men on the street.
So, how would you do? Just how racist are you? Take the test and find out! http://backhand.uchicago.edu/Center/ShooterEffect/
(I did horribly on the test - I shot practically everyone, black or white! Then I got nervous, and got shot by everyone else!)
Your Score: 685
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:698.32ms
Black Unarmed:770.2ms
White Armed:671.6ms
White Unarmed:755.32ms
Is that good?
Your Score: 535
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:609.2ms
Black Unarmed:756.72ms
White Armed:638.2ms
White Unarmed:735.6ms
I am a single white female.
Racism would be if you take the test and shoot all black people or all white people regardless of weaponry.
When I was taking the test I don't think I consciously registered whether most of them were black or white; I was looking for the gun.
Game Over
Your Score: 485
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:583.44ms
Black Unarmed:710.8ms
White Armed:631.96ms
White Unarmed:691.36ms
Game Over
Your Score: 170
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:605.16ms
Black Unarmed:770.4ms
White Armed:641.64ms
White Unarmed:768.4ms
Your Score: 535
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:610.36ms
Black Unarmed:697.6ms
White Armed:604.12ms
White Unarmed:624.2ms
So it took me longer to holster my gun for an unarmed black man. But I was more quick to shoot the white guys with the guns!
I was looking for the gun rather than skin colour, anyway.
Black Armed:676.24ms
Black Unarmed:707.44ms
White Armed:627.88ms
White Unarmed:735.84ms
Was I biased by the fact that I knew the premise of the game before playing it? Probably. Did I gun down about 6 innocent cell phone users? Uh...
Also, one shouldn't shoot someone just because they are holding a gun. You should only shoot them if they threaten you or someone else with the gun or another weapon.
Game Over
Your Score: -570
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:713.88ms
Black Unarmed:743.6ms
White Armed:681.12ms
White Unarmed:689.48ms
However, I'm not racist, and I know it, so, uh, it must be fluked! :)
I never once looked at the face of the person I was shooting or not shooting, I was just looking for a hand, and then to see what was in that hand.
The silhouettes of the black/white people were not a control of the study... they were a variable. You can't make valid scientific observations when it's harder to see if there's a gun in somebody's hand because of how they are standing. Or because the gun is black and their shirt is black... kind of hard to make out the outline of the object and determine if it is a gun.
Game Over
Your Score: 530
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:602.44ms
Black Unarmed:777.16ms
White Armed:571.12ms
White Unarmed:725.64ms
And I highly doubt these results are of any statistical significance. Human reaction time often varies in that 30ms range.
You could do this test with lions and tigers or cats and dogs and see results like this.
AND, correlation is not causation.
Your Score: 450
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:760.8ms
Black Unarmed:829.96ms
White Armed:775.92ms
White Unarmed:821.12ms
Similarly, you lose less point for shooting an unarmed person (15), then you do for not shooting an armed person (40). (granted, this aspect could reflect risking your own life, but shooting innocents is pretty bad).
I have to agree about positioning. Some people in this game are holding their cans of sode in really strange position. Also, it would be easier (and more realistic) to make a decision if the person was animated and swinging the obect to 'take aim'. Most rational people woulding aim their 'soda' at you like a gun (and those do in real life are basically knowingly commiting suicide).
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:769.08ms
Black Unarmed:965.92ms
White Armed:743.64ms
White Unarmed:791.68ms
I found the pictures of denver to be distracting. I lived there very briefly. so I kept trying to figure out where the picture was taken.
Sometimes the color of the shirt and the poses they are in makes it hard to see what's going on too.
I guess that means the test is racist/speciesist against phones or guns. While fun, the test is horribly flawed.
Your Score: 510
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:630.28ms
Black Unarmed:723.04ms
White Armed:650.04ms
White Unarmed:670.2ms
Arab boy growing up in America.
I held down the / key the whole time... for some reason it shot unarmed pictures 25% faster... I dunno... maybe my keyboard hiccuped for a second.
Game Over
Your Score: -500
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:58.56ms
Black Unarmed:46ms
White Armed:61.92ms
White Unarmed:45.92ms
Your Score: 540
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:781.4ms
Black Unarmed:798.56ms
White Armed:737.56ms
White Unarmed:751.36ms
All the test proved to me is that it was harder to discern a dark handgun in the hands of a black man than a white man which seems like common sense. Moral of the story is that if you don't want to get accidentally shot, buy a very brightly colored phone.
then my computer froze up. :/
gonna try and take it again...
Your Score: 625
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:757.6ms
Black Unarmed:753.24ms
White Armed:736.28ms
White Unarmed:757.12ms
What disturbed me most was how poor my reaction times are. I don't think there's any statistically significant difference in my times.
tc>
Your Score: 620
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:613.4ms
Black Unarmed:691.2ms
White Armed:633.84ms
White Unarmed:688.16ms
Your Score: -500
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:30.76ms
Black Unarmed:30.92ms
White Armed:30.44ms
White Unarmed:30.84ms
they're pretty close. except the armed white ones die quickest.
It doesn't simulate real world conditions, even for a cop.
Understanding your subconscious is a way of being LESS racist, I think, and I worry that people who see these tests as "am I racist?" tests are less likely to do the important risk of taking them.
If you take this test to a location where the perceived threats are different (for example, a neighborhood in Ghana where people from a well-known violent gang wear red shirts) and substitute the pictures of black people (which would be pretty meaningless in Ghana) with the pictures of people of any ethnicity wearing red shirts, the same results will happen, this time with people shooting the ones in red shirts more freely.
Blame the governments that allow poverty to exist and turn into crime, and the media for taking advantage of this and reinforcing every stereotype for the sake of immediate consumption. Not our highly evolved, completely positive, survival skills.
Your Score: -1750
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:58.4ms
Black Unarmed:54.4ms
White Armed:53.28ms
White Unarmed:56.2ms
My score sucked, and to add injury to insult, I was shot more times than I'd care to count. And that usually means you're dead. Hmmm.
So then I thought I'd play the stereotypical right-wing gun-nut, shooting everybody that got in my way...
Your Score: -500
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:60.48ms
Black Unarmed:55.16ms
White Armed:68.2ms
White Unarmed:55.72ms
So I guess the moral of this story is that if you try and talk with thugs, not only does your score suck, but you get filled with lead. But if you shoot first & ask questions later, you end up scoring better than the weasel, and you get the added bonus of staying alive.
Or maybe this is just a seriously flawed test. Yeah, I think that's it.
Your Score: 570
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:621.96ms
Black Unarmed:780.96ms
White Armed:594.76ms
White Unarmed:711.88ms
it implies that shooting blacks faster means you're racist against black people.
i took the test and i shot whites faster. does that mean i'm racist against white people?
worst test ever.
Your Score: 545
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:660.08ms
Black Unarmed:844.56ms
White Armed:670.96ms
White Unarmed:784.48ms
I get what they are trying ot do but still..
horrible test
From a timing perspective, I scored:
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:624.08ms
Black Unarmed:668ms
White Armed:616.8ms
White Unarmed:632.84ms
indicating I was quicker to shoot white people than black. However, it's just as (if not more) relevant to know whether I accurately shot gun-toting maniacs than cellphone-wielding ones. For example, if I were racist I might have shot every black man I saw, bar one, which wouldn't be apparent from the above statistics.
I know from a statistical research standpoint the stated test is on one element (gun or no gun?), but for the overall you need to consider all the factors. Does the application track this and report back to the author?
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:628.56ms
Black Unarmed:690.6ms
White Armed:619ms
White Unarmed:656.84ms
I guess this means I like shooting white people better than black people, but I'm more willing to disassociate white people with guns than black people. Now what if we complicate this a little more by throwing in pictures of Asians and Latinos?
Game Over
Your Score: 350
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:742.48ms
Black Unarmed:715.28ms
White Armed:619.56ms
White Unarmed:659.8ms
I guess those results mean I am quicker to not shoot and shoot a white person than a black.
Black Armed: 731.76 ms
Black Unarmed: 1010.52 ms
White Armed: 732.72 ms
White Unarmed: 819.2 ms
East Asian Male here. While it's around the same time for me to recognize a gun, it takes time to tell if a cellphone or a wallet is a gun or not. And since most guns are black, it takes me a whole second to tell a civilian. That's not racism, that's just the unfortunate color of guns!
Your Score: 285
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:563.84ms
Black Unarmed:642ms
White Armed:532.08ms
White Unarmed:788.88ms
So as a white guy I'm racist against whites?!?!
I bet if I took this again I would get a completely different result.
Those days are long gone.
How did you type that, then?
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:600.92ms
Black Unarmed:716.88ms
White Armed:660.4ms
White Unarmed:727.28ms
Basically even, I'd say. This test is really flawed. You really concentrate on their hands, and you don't have any time to even notice the colour of their skin. Why all men? This test is sexist.
This is probably good Starfleet training - they keep beaming people down in front of you.
Game Over
Your Score: 700
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:655.04ms
Black Unarmed:755ms
White Armed:653.92ms
White Unarmed:719.8ms
The article (or commentary?) proposed that such judgments supposedly tested in the above experiment may not be racism but, instead, "Bayesian" judgments. To wit:
1. You are walking down a sidewalk and you see a 60 year-old black man coming your way. If you cross the street to the other sidewalk, you are a racist.
2. You are walking down a sidewalk and you see a 40 year-old black woman coming your way. If you cross the street to the other sidewalk, you are a racist.
3. You are walking down a sidewalk and you see a 20 year-old black man coming your way. If you cross the street to the other sidewalk, >>> it is possible that you are not displaying racism but Bayesian thinking.
The idea is that basing decisions on data of who are the predominant perpetrators of violent crime as opposed to basing them on the race of a person without concern for any further consideration of any data or critical thinking, marks the difference between racism and Bayesian thinking in this example.
It may well be that the racism has occurred much earlier in the process: is it a media slant, whether conscious or not?
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:645.96ms
Black Unarmed:709.96ms
White Armed:609.12ms
White Unarmed:744.64ms
Funnily enough, mine seems to be the opposite. I was more focused on the gun than not, but I found the gun/regular object more difficult to see when it was a white man holding it, for some reason.
I wonder, though, why are none of these people women? Is the game sexist?
Your Score: 560
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:706.52ms
Black Unarmed:785ms
White Armed:759.84ms
White Unarmed:882.8ms
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2222529991
Your Score: 310
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:668.6ms
Black Unarmed:815.68ms
White Armed:619.36ms
White Unarmed:722.76ms
SECOND TIME
Your Score: 375
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:602.08ms
Black Unarmed:730.4ms
White Armed:612.08ms
White Unarmed:666.12ms
So I'm racist too? Don't think so, probably because it's easier to differentiate dark coloured mobile phones n wallets from guns in the hands of a white, easy as that.
Your Score: 375
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:591.84ms
Black Unarmed:727.6ms
White Armed:599.24ms
White Unarmed:674.08ms
I think I'm just a bad shot.
So I was slow with silver guns or phones in white hands and black wallets, phones or guns in black hands. Where is the analysis of this reaction time. In fact I got shot a couple of times by white guys with silver guns, and I shot a few white guys with black phones.
Also some of the backgrounds made it hard to spot an object. I also found it a bit hard to "shoot" someone who was pointing the gun at the ground.
And the web connection was very very slow...
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:625.16ms
Black Unarmed:741.96ms
White Armed:669.48ms
White Unarmed:706.16ms
I don't even know what my score means.
i noticed in some pictures it was harder to see the object.
I couldn't tell a few times if the person was holding a gun or phone or whatever else they were holding. SOmetimes b/c of the way they were holding it, sometimes b/c of the background and the item blending in to that or the person's clothing.
I didn't even notice skin color b/c I was trying too dang hard to tell what they were holding.
I shot a few of the good guys and let go a few of the bad ones :P heh
Your Score: 565
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:757.24ms
Black Unarmed:809.28ms
White Armed:745.28ms
White Unarmed:781.36ms
I got shot twice but I didn't shoot anyone by mistake. And look at that, I reacted to the armed white guys faster!
I found some pictures were really hard to make out the shape of the object due to the background the object was against. That, for me, had much more to do with analysis/reaction time than any other factor.
I would say the test is flawed, although it's a nice idea.
Your Score: -1740
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:226.8ms
Black Unarmed:318.2ms
White Armed:200.84ms
White Unarmed:222ms
just held down the holster button.
I'm not going to even dignify this ass bung test with any worth at all.
How mad yank can you get, Who'd you shoot first?
Answer, NO ONE ya dummy, you shoot no one.
Your Score: 615
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:5049.84ms
Black Unarmed:745.76ms
White Armed:636.12ms
White Unarmed:686.12ms
no idea how i got 5049.84ms on Black Armed. sounds a little too high.
But seriously: for those of you calling the test "flawed", did you even stop to think about what it's really doing? It's not trying to tell you you're racist. (In fact, looking at the results on a person-by-person basis is pointless; I'm sure they are much more interested in the statistics of hundreds or thousands of people.)
Instead, it's trying to measure whether or not you have been subconsciously conditioned to perceive blacks as more threatening. That's why they used a variety of positions, settings, gun colors, etc. -- to statistically remove any biases that may be caused by these things. It's why cell-phones were sometimes held in threatening ways, to get rid of any biases you might have based on the way things are held. That's also why no women were used -- why complicate the results any more than necessary?
Is it realistic? Of course not. Reality has a way of complicating things. If it were possible to get the results they seek from realistic situations, they would simply study data from police reports or something.
Is it perfect? Again, no. Some of the points brought up by commenters here are valid. I'm sure the published study will acknowledge these issues as a potential source of error. But to insult the study, the people behind it, and even all of academia (see Evil Pundit) based on going through the subject's end of it a single time is ridiculous.
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:578.12ms
Black Unarmed:1061.72ms
White Armed:594.04ms
White Unarmed:847.56ms
Average reaction time:
Black armed:844.76ms
Black unarmed: 1126.36ms
White armed:987.48ms
White unarmed:1003.84ms
Apparently I am very slow. So slow that by the time I found their hand and identified what was in it, I didn't have time to look at their faces. They could've been blue for all I knew!
That being said, the results show I'm not racist, right? (white female)
Maybe I'll change my contacts and take it again...
Black Armed:883.8ms
Black Unarmed:1050.88ms
White Armed:894.2ms
White Unarmed:1083.72ms
It was a very hard test, I hate guns.
So this means I am a racist (I'm white, actually very white and almost nothing helps:-( )? It is so strange... by the way I recognized, that blacks with guns came after the whites with guns. So when I saw a white-gun, I was thinking what to press, but when right after then came a black with gun I knew much faster which button I should press, so the reaction was faster... So I do not know if I can believe to this...
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:767.12ms
Black Unarmed:828.12ms
White Armed:758.6ms
White Unarmed:838.92ms
I think I can just assume I'd be dead. :)
Fastest on armed whites and slowest on unarmed whites.
I'm not sure how to read this. And I think the amount of false positives might be a better indicator than anything else.
The fact is that there is no shame, no bias, no racism ... involved in shooting so-called "blacks" more or more quickly than so-called "whites." It is not done out of hatred, but out of wisdom and a sense of self-preservation. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that an average "black" man is FAR more likely to be a perpetrator of a violent crime than an average "white" man. It's only natural to use self-defense against him with less hesitation.
Grow up, people!
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/selectatest.html
This test switches hands, so as to mitigate the effects of hand preference, and uses more reasonable gauging methods; they test the speed of associations between blacks and whites and good and bad words. Honestly, now that I think about it, this test deserves to be posted.
There is also an extensive battery of other tests for those of you inclined to investigate.
I stopped reading after the 10th comment or so, but I'm not sure this is a 100%, end-all, foolproof, scientifically accurate test of whether someone is racist or not...
Also, the only thing this showed to me is that my face really starts to itch when I cannot scratch it. :)
I took the test with the intention of finding out if it would allow me to shoot people indiscriminately and to continue to do so.
So I pressed on the button rapid-fire. I never even saw any of the pictures of the people pop up, I only saw backgrounds. Yet it still stated that I waited longer for white people than for black people.
I tried it over again. Same result.
Now I started to wonder.
Third time... same.
Fourth time... same.
Fifth time... same.
I can buy it happening two or even three times in a row. But not five. This thing is rigged.
i reacted to whites quicker, armed or not.
i like to think i'm not racist.
the confimation is weird.
does it mean anything?