What do you mean by "these types of tests"? Do you think there's a substantive difference between an internet survey and a peer reviewed Harvard study created by 3 Phds? Or are both corrupt?
I took the race one. It said:
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for European Americans over African Americans.
Which doesn't really surprise me (if it does embarrass me). Tribal affiliations are one of humans strongest tendencies. We evolved in small waring tribes. The fact that we can even get along with people who look just like us is a big step forward. Religion, government, and trade have all been tools that helped expand (and sometimes add limits to) our ingroup/outgroup mentality.
Ok, so why does some slight implicit bias matter? I'll get to that in a sec, but two related thoughts first:
-
By implying that parents help you get ahead, you're making the assertion that external factors influence success. What your parents do matters. I'd argue it also matters more than implicit bias. But you are saying that that external factors matter. This is an important argument for why even a slight implicit bias matters.
-
We both hopefully want as fair society as possible. And I don't mean communist fair, I mean AMERICA fair, opportunity fair, where you get what you earn, work hard for, etc.
Ok, so putting this all together, on the aggregate, I think that implicit bias is a gentle, but evil wind, that blows through society. Unlike this video, if you are sprinting (one big life choice, decision, etc), it probably doesn't matter. But if you are running for 30 years, even the smallest breeze is going to have an impact.