As many as 637 people participated in the BLM Challenge to examine their Unconscious Bias with regard to Skin Color and Trust using our Mindbugstest. What all these people and you might also want to know: what conclusions can we draw from the results? The results show the following: The respondents gave the following answers to the statements in the test: 99% of all respondents indicated that they viewed other people in a neutral or positive manner, regardless of their skin color. 99% of all respondents also indicated that skin color has no impact on their idea of whether someone would be a good leader for an organization. Then the people were tested for their possible bias on skin color. This part of your test is no longer about your opinion but measures your unconscious bias against people with a light or dark skin tone. The scores for this item showed that most respondents do allow themselves to be influenced by someone’s skin color: 24% of the respondents have a preference for people with a dark skin color, of which 7% strongly. 76% of the respondents have a preference for people with a light skin color, of which 52% are strong. For many of the respondents, the test shows a large discrepancy between how the respondents think they act and how they actually act on the basis of a person’s skin color. It is possible that people with large differences between their opinions and their unconscious bias may inadvertently exclude and discriminate against people based on their skin color. The bigger the discrepancy, the harder you have to work to give everyone a fair chance. Those who indicated that they interacted a lot with people with different skin colors or who grew up in a diverse environment showed less high unconscious biases on skin color. This is in accordance with research. Working on “friendship” with people who are different from yourself is a reliable way towards less unconscious prejudices. It’s called contact theory. It is also striking that the positive contact with people who are classified in one group can also make someone more positive towards people who belong to another group (secondary transfer effect). One of the first steps you can take to reduce biases to seek out and deal with more diversity of people. For background on the test, see our other site https://mindbugstest.nl. All people who have taken the test will receive their personal, confidential reports by email.
