Racial Identity Exercise

1. Take the IAT available here: IAT
Start with the Race IAT (Scroll down to the 10th test) and if you have time, take the Weapons IAT.

2. Watch the film (its about 6 minutes)

For both 1 and 2: Think about the results of the IAT and what the film shows: how do we learn about race and skin color? Did someone tell you to have a preference or not have a preference for a particular skin color? Did someone specifically tell the children in the film to have a preference for a particular skin color?

3. Read the chapter on White Racial Identity in Sue and Sue's Counseling the Culturally Different (xerox copies are in your mailbox) OR in the supplemental materials I gave you

4. Think of and identify where you are in Helm's model of White Racial Identity Development.

5. How do you think racial identity status can influence your clinical practice and your supervisory practice?


UPDATE: For those who are interested, you can go here to read posts on Implicit Attitudes. The right hand side column lists all the posts.

UPDATE 2: This is an instance of how the IAT can be relevant to our life

The IAT

I have found the Implicit Attitude Test (IAT) to be useful in starting a conversation about one's awareness around issues of race. What is the IAT? From their website:

It is well known that people don't always 'speak their minds', and it is suspected that people don't always 'know their minds'. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology.
This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short.
In addition, this site contains various related information. The value of this information may be greatest if you try at least one test first...

Here is the link to the IAT. I'd recommend starting with the Race IAT.