Psychology's Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn't Up to the Job

[weso1]

Psychology's Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn't Up to the Job

[Julio3000]

It's ok. Don't panic.

You're still a racist.

[weso1]

[Runnin]

I'm more interested in tribalism than racism, mainly because I don't think anyone really knows what racism is. Certainly people who discuss it may not agree with its definition. Tribalism is in our DNA and has allowed humanity to survive. It seems to me that racism is really nothing more than fancy or often clumsy attempts to justify the actions and policies of tribalism.

Tribal impulses that still remain seem to be challenging both our religion and our secular institutions.

[weso1]

I'm more interested tribalism than racism, mainly because I don't think anyone really knows what racism is. Certainly people who discuss it may not agree with its definition. Tribalism is in our DNA and has allowed humanity to survive. It seems to me that racism is really nothing more than a fancy or often clumsy attempts to justify the actions and policies of tribalism.

Tribal impulses that still remain seem to be challenging both our religion and our secular institutions.

The less we respect our individuality, the more likely we are to blindly follow partisan values. This prompts an extremist us-vs-them mentality that builds barriers between Republicans and Democrats, African-Americans and Caucasians, and the wealthy and the poor. Because we’re afraid of considering any opinion that is foreign to our demographic, we can’t hear any voices except those that agree with us. This is especially true in light of the recent election. Trump’s supporters ask each other who could possibly trust Clinton, and Clinton’s supporters ask each other who would dare validate Trump; but neither group finds answers because of the wall between them.

link

[weso1]

[thethe]

That was a brilliant monologue and is a perfect characterization of the modern left.

[Tapate50]

http://www.theroot.com/3-white-men-l...not-1791605819

Didn't know where to leave this. I got it off deadspin but it appears legit. Nice story and wish more actions like this would be posted rather than stuff that separates and divides us as a country.

[Tapate50]

It's ok. Don't panic.

You're still a racist.

I don't get why this is tossed around so lightly on here. That's a fairly ****ty post.

[Julio3000]

I don't get why this is tossed around so lightly on here. That's a fairly ****ty post.

I'm sorry to have treated a serious subject with undue irreverence.

[Tapate50]

I'm sorry to have treated a serious subject with undue irreverence.

Not really that post per se, but it's a heckuva thing to toss around and of late that brush has become REAL broad, and really easily wielded.

I can't tell if your joking a lot of the time !

[57Brave]

my 2 cents is if you even think you are acting like an as.hole you are probably acting like an as.hole.

Arguing about how to measure whether one is or isn't racist would be to me a red flag

But hey, credit or points for even questioning.
That is a start

[57Brave]

kinda like this.
Don't think it crossed this person's mind they were acting like a butt hole.
And how do you measure as.hole edness ?

[weso1]

Racism accusations are a particularly nasty tactic used by folks on the left to shut down debate.

For those who didn't read the article in the OP it specifically referenced the implicit bias test, which is a test used to determine unconscious biases that we all may have. This particular paragraph is a pretty decent takeaway from the long article:

So it’s an open question, at least: The scientific truth is that we don’t know exactly how big a role implicit bias plays in reinforcing the racial hierarchy, relative to countless other factors. We do know that after almost 20 years and millions of dollars’ worth of IAT research, the test has a markedly unimpressive track record relative to the attention and acclaim it has garnered. Leading IAT researchers haven’t produced interventions that can reduce racism or blunt its impact. They haven’t told a clear, credible story of how implicit bias, as measured by the IAT, affects the real world. They have flip-flopped on important, baseline questions about what their test is or isn’t measuring. And because the IAT and the study of implicit bias have become so tightly coupled, the test’s weaknesses have caused collateral damage to public and academic understanding of the broader concept itself. As Mitchell and Tetlock argue in their book chapter, it is “difficult to find a psychological construct that is so popular yet so misunderstood and lacking in theoretical and practical payoff” as implicit bias. They make a strong case that this is in large part due to problems with the IAT.

[jpx7]

I don't get why this is tossed around so lightly on here. That's a fairly ****ty post.

We're all subject to the nefarious impulses of racist (or, racially-motivated tribalist) reaction, whether we want to be or not. Step one is admitting it.

[jpx7]

I thought "Doctor" Phil was Psychology's Favorite Tool.