by Barry A. Liebling
The Implicit Association Test (IAT) coupled with Implicit Association Theory has been used widely since the late 1990s. There are many versions of the test and theories that expound on it, but two of the most prominent are the IAT that purports to reveal prejudice of whites against blacks and the sIAT that is intended to document prejudice of males against females. Note that the IAT is designed to reveal attitudes that are subconscious or unconscious. So the individual who is stigmatized as “prejudiced” is generally not aware of these “pernicious character flaws” until after the test is taken and scored.
The test is fairly complicated and requires the participant to sit at a computer. The subject looks at a screen with a series of words and pictures and is asked to categorize them by pressing a left key or a right key. Responding quickly to some of the images is “evidence” of lack of prejudice, while longer latency times signifies that the person is subconsciously – probably unknowingly – biased (and biased in a bad way).
The results of IAT research is used to justify “anti-bias” programs, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion (DEI) education, Critical Race Theory initiatives, and formal rules that dictate who should be recruited and who should be promoted in government positions and in private industry.
How good are the most influential versions of the IAT? Recently the National Association of Scholars (NAS) published the results of several comprehensive studies that assessed the effectiveness of the procedures and evaluated the theories behind them. Their report goes into a lot of detail and is nearly 200 pages long. The bottom line is the IAT does not stand up to scrutiny. https://www.nas.org/reports/shifting-sands-report-iv/full-report
and also
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2024/10/31/implicit_bias_a_zombie_theory_that_needs_to_finally_die_1068875.html
What are the problems? The test has low reliability. If it is administered to the same person several times the scores are not consistent. Note to the reader, good tests have high reliability (think of academic skills achievement exams where test-retest scores are strongly correlated). It is significant that the IAT has very low, at best trivial, validity. That means that an IAT score does not predict real world behavior (unfair bias). And the entire rationale for the IAT is that it must (if it is any good) be a strong indicator of what occurs in the real world.
The NAS investigators accurately label the IAT as a case study of sloppy, dishonest science. Its record of logical and procedural errors rules out the possibility that IAT programs have genuine value. The NAS team asserts that IAT theory and the IAT test ought to be extinguished. They point out that IAT is used by progressive leftists to ram through the woke agenda illegitimately.
Suppose usage of the IAT and references to the IAT were to disappear completely. What would be likely to occur? Certainly a malignant growth would be removed from the body of psychological science, and that is a good thing. But the mischief that the IAT encourages would barely be affected.
Think of the IAT as the tip of a huge iceberg. One-tenth is visible above the water, but nine-tenths is submerged. The underwater part is not psychological test procedures, it is the philosophical-political edifice of a leftist cabal.
Who developed and who uses the IAT? These are partisans who embrace the Neo-Marxist dogma that the world is populated by oppressed victims and guilty oppressors. They are committed to pushing policies and programs that shower officially oppressed groups (defined according to ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, national origin, and more to come) with prizes and favors. And they are intent on punishing and shaming those they smear as oppressors (straight white males are regarded as occupying the lowest rung).
For the progressive-left elite any instances of an “oppressed” group having less wealth, or prestige, or influence, or representation, or positive outcomes is incontestable proof that the counterpart “oppressor” group is responsible. And the solution to the ersatz crime is to redistribute good things away from the oppressors and toward the oppressed.
Notice that this view of the world does not depend on the IAT or any testing procedures. The IAT makes it easier for the Neo-Marxists to get their way, because it proclaims in the “name of science” that people are inexcusably prejudiced even if they are not aware of their “faulty mental processing.” But if the IAT were to be eliminated from the leftist toolbox the woke crowd would continue its abhorrent shenanigans.
What ought to be done? Of course getting rid of an invalid psychological procedure is a step in the right direction. But more important: People need to understand that collectivism, Neo-Marxism, and group-identity dogma always leads to a dead-end. The best solution is to convey effectively that rational individualism based on the best ideas of the Enlightenment is the correct philosophical-political framework. There is a lot of work to do.
*** See other entries at AlertMindPublishing.com in “Monthly Columns.” ***