Are you a racist? A sexist? Most likely you are. Interesting podcast about moral responsibility and consciousness, which ends with a very interesting discussion about how we make decisions unconsciously, while it seems we make them very conscious.

For example, this study into sexism: In a search for a new police officer, the researchers used 4 distinct CVs to test how much sexism plays a role in job → 1. Female with strong academic background, 2. Female who was ‘streetwise’ (experience on the street), 3. Male with strong academic background, 4. Male who was streetwise.

Group A was given the applicant forms of Female streetwise/Male academic background; and the group B was given Male streetwise/Female academic background. In both control groups, the overwhelming majority chose for the male applicant, arguing that - depending on which quality the male was given - or you need ‘someone’ who is streetwise (group B) or you need ‘someone’ with a strong academic background (group A). However, it shows that the sex is what counts, not the qualifications.

In three studies, participants assigned male and female applicants to gender-stereotypical jobs. However, they did not view male and female applicants as having different strengths and weaknesses. Instead, they redefined the criteria for success at the job as requiring the specific credentials that a candidate of the desired gender happened to have.

Racism and sexism is present in everyone, even if you don’t think so. You can test it on a Harvard research page dedicated on implicit racism. I did it with regard to my ‘preference’ towards gay/straight people. It does not measure sexual preference, which means that (taking the above example) I would probably be more likely to hire someone who is straight than someone who is gay (unless the criteria are clearly stated on beforehand).

Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for Straight People compared to Gay People.

This is the average result. See how racist/sexist we still are.