Actvity 2.5 Automaticity and Implicit Learning

Activity 2.5: Automaticity and Implicit Learning

I took the “White and Black Preference” IAT. I feared the result, because I did not want the label “racist”.  In the first test, in my case, the categories were, white/pleasant and black/unpleasant, and then the categories reversed for the second. Might it be difficult to undo the conditioned responses of the first test.?

I thought it was frightening how easy it was to influence or effect behavior as in the case of the blacks scoring 50% less on twenty GRE question simply by identifying their race prior to taking the test. So how valid are the results of any test such as the ACT, if racial identity can prime the test takers to feel stupid or smart prior to taking the test? According to Gladwell’s Blink (2005), half of the blacks who take the race IAT show a moderate preference toward whites. In our society, whites are presented, in the media in a more positive light, so blacks may see themselves negatively, unconsciously. The good news is, is that children can be conditioned, or taught more positive habits or behaviors as they actively participate “in the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior” (James, 1899/2001, p. 15). An example of this was when subjects were conditioned to be patient/ kind versus aggressive/angry, the results showed that the patient/kind subjects calmly waited the full ten minutes to speak with an assigned person, without interrupting them. As teachers, we can help our youth acquire or develop essential, positive social, academic, and personal character strengths.

James says, “A character is a completely fashioned will” (p. 36), or another version is “Character is perfectly educated will” (Novalis, 1772-1801). Habits shape from free will and develop, through the learning process, into character strengths.