What is your race preference?

A provocative question, asking which race a person prefers.

I have just finished a book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Blink" which I found a fascinating read, and I was captured by this question in one section of his book where he talks about a test a person can take to show what they unconsciously feel toward African-Americans and European-Americans.

By far, most people who take the test have a strong or moderate automatic preference for European-Americans. Gladwell himself, who wishes otherwise, also gets a result of preferring European-Americans, and he writes in his book that many African-Americans make automatic positive associations with European-Americans. Of course, there is debate surrounding the validity of these tests -- as all tests telling us what we really think versus what we say we think would.

Whatever the criticisms, the idea behind it is captivating. Someone wants to find out what really goes on in our heads. Are we the type to automatically flinch at the African-American walking down the street when it's late and we're alone, even if we say we view blacks and whites as equal? Can we find out? And if we can, will we be brave enough?

And when we find out we do, will we then do what it takes to overcome the instinctive response?

If you'd like to try it out yourself, there are demonstration tests you can take at www.implicit.harvard.edu. There are a variety of tests you can take, and you needn't fill out any kind of form with your name or contact information. The one mentioned here is the Race IAT.

I would love to hear what you all think of such a test and its implications.