Chapter 3: Waren Harding Error

1. Describe how Warren Harding rose through the Republican Party to become President in 1920.
His handsome, sharp looks caused people to immediately associate him with the idea of what a president should be.
2. Why does the author believe that people were in error in promoting Harding to higher office?
Because it though he looked the part of president, he certainty did not have the knowledge to run the country well.
3. What was the point of the “Implicit Association Test (IAT)?”
To show that on a subconscious level, appearance affects everyone’s judgment.
4. What are the advantages to completing the IAT on computer? Why does Gladwell believe the IAT has become “so popular in recent years?”
It can calculate the exact hesitation of a person in answering the questions which can show the significant differences in associations of words. It has become popular because it has shown what an impact appearance truly has in everyday life.
5. Why, according to Gladwell, did he become mortified upon completion of the first part of the IAT test on race? What occurred on the second part of the IAT test?
He believed that because he hesitated when trying to associate good words with blacks on the second part of the IAT test, he was therefore racist.
6. Did it make any difference how many times Gladwell took the test? What does the author believe is the reason for our answers on the IAT (i.e. what does the IAT measure)?
It did not make a difference how many times he took the test. It measures our subconscious associations of different things which have been the result of the world around us.
7. If Gladwell is correct, that your unconscious acts as a computer that “crunches all the data” from our lives and “it forms an opinion”; would you consider this to your true self? Please explain your answer.
I would not consider it to be apart of your true self because it is an effect of human nature in forming an opinion from the things around you. So in it is not something you choose to control yourself, it is just human nature, like the urge to smile when happy.
8. Does Gladwell feel that it matters if one has a “strongly pro-white pattern of associations?
Yes, because it could subconsciously affect their decisions in everyday life.
9. How does the Warren Harding error impact the business world?
It means that minorities, women, and short people will have trouble obtaining good jobs.
10. How does Bob Golomb’s strategy defeat the Warren Harding error?
He tries, consciously, to separate appearances from his judgments of people, and treat them all the same.
11. What were the results of the Ayres study? What does Gladwell believe to be the explanation for these results?
People’s subconscious discriminations greatly affect their behavior. But it is only because those discriminations are what they have gathered from general experiences.
12. How does Gladwell believe you can change your score on the race IAT? How, according to Gladwell, can we apply this rule to our everyday lives? Do you agree?
Before you take the test, find ways to associate black people with positive images. We can expose ourselves to minorities in order to get comfortable with them. I agree, I think the more comfortable you are with someone, the easier it is to like them, and believe they are a good person.