I took the bias quizzes for age, weight, and gender-career. Going into these I had my ideas about what they would say about me, considering my background, upbringing, and interests.
Before getting my results for the age bias quiz, I thought I would have a slight bias against elderly people because in all of my volunteer jobs, internships, and even organized sports, I have always been around supervisors and coordinators who were on the younger side of the "adult" spectrum. My parents are older than a lot of my friends' parents and I've been very aware, and a bit envious, of the differences in our family lifestyles. After taking the implicit bias quiz, it told me that I only have a "slight automatic preference" for young compared to old. I've always gravitated towards people around my age who are as independent as me, and I think that contributes to the bias the quiz detected because we are all so independent that we aren't around adults as much as other people our age. Also, I think it is easier to empathize and identify with people my own age because we go through very similar things in life, however baby boomers and generations above went through very different things, so there's a large disconnect between those generations and ours.
My results for the weight bias quiz also didn't surprise me. Again, it said I have a "slight automatic preference" for thin people. As someone who has spent my entire life in organized athletics, and my childhood heroes were all elite athletes, I have become accustomed to people who work physically hard, and their bodies are how they make their life, so they are all in very good physical shape. I think as a female in the society we are in, where there is no "right" body to have and people are constantly shamed for being too fat or too thin, it is not uncommon to struggle with body image issues and constantly wanting to be thinner. Society definitely contributes to the idea that thinner is better and that weight is something that everyone needs to fix regardless of health issues.
The last quiz I took was the gender-career quiz, and on this one it showed that I have "little or no association between male and female and career and family." Again, this doesn't surprise me at all. As a woman who wants to go into a career that is overwhelmingly male-dominated and being pretty equally parented by two working parents, I don't really have anything to push me to be biased one way or another. Obviously in society, women have historically been seen and pressured into being the family side, and males to the career side, but that has changed and women are now more accepted in workplaces.
Hey Julia! I think your results from the quizzes and the way you have described your personality seem to really match up. I thought the first quiz, the age quiz, you took was really interesting in results. I like how you bring up your parents and your upbringing because I think people forget how much that affects who we are as people. We think about weight and gender in career and overlook age sometimes. I agree with you though going into the sport industry a lot of the hard-working people that you are surrounded by are towards the younger end of the spectrum. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Julia! I know we are both going into the sport industry field and I totally agree that it is a male dominated field. But like you say, it is changing and way more accepting of women. That is why I can see why you did not have a bias either way. And with two equally working parents, you did not grow up seeing a bias necessarily. My dad did the majority of the providing and so I grew up with a slight bias of men doing the providing for a family. However, it is not a bias that I agree with, just one that I grew up with.
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