Exploration of Self…

Candola:

I enjoyed Binna Candola’s talk very much, as it opened my eyes to the different ways I can look at someone with bias and subjective actions or beliefs and not to initially judge them, because I myself may be doing the same thing in some form or the other.

A very interesting point Candola stated was that those who see themselves as not bias are probably the most bias, as there is no self-reflection going on. Why would they rethink their actions or review what they say if they think they will never say or do anything prejudiced? This is the first time I think about it this way, and it made me look back at all the people I encountered or saw who had said subjective statements: those who rethought their actions went through a process of reflection, while those who stood by their actions have probably not reflected on what they said due to them thinking they said nothing wrong.

IAT (Implicit Association Test):

Religion:

I thought it would be interesting to take this test seeing as I view myself as a relatively religious person, hoping to have a good background on religion and its basics. The test revolves around the concept of Christianity vs Islam as well as Judaism. I went in thinking I would “prefer” Islam, seeing as I am muslim and believe in its fundamentals. However, the test stated that I have a ‘slight preference for Christianity over Islam’. This shocked me because I never thought that I did, I still don’t think I do. They say that if I was faster at choosing ‘Islam with good’ attributes than I was choosing ‘Christianity with good’ then I would have had a slight preference for Islam instead. This phrase made me question the test, as to me it took time to get used to the connections made during the game. Or maybe the test is somewhat accurate, and that rather, I’m questioning the results because I was subconsciously caught off guard… I guess i’ll try doing this test another time when I’m more alert and see if my results differ?

Update: I redid the test the next day and it now suggests that I have ‘a strong automatic preference for Christianity over Islam.’

Presidents:

This was interesting to me personally seeing as I studied American politics and presidents during my A-levels at school. Also, seeing that this course talks a lot about globalisation and Western influence in the East, I thought it would be interesting to see if my results backup the claims we talk about in class.

I think I understand American politics better than I do Egyptian politics, as everyday I read news about worldwide politics, which mainly include USA, especially as Donald Trump is now president, increasing the interest in their political and general direction.

As I had expected, my results were that I have ‘a slight preference for Reagan over Donald Trump.’ I’m actually relieved that I got this result, as I do not agree with many of Trump’s policies, both foreign and domestic, while I admire Reagan for his domestic economic policies, especially ‘Reaganomics’, which helped transform their economy positively and got rid of the major problem of stagflation.

Gender – Science:

I chose this as my last test as it seemed quite interesting: it shows the relative link between the sciences studied and gender. In Egypt, there is a clear split between these topics, where Science Majors are male majority students (in my university at least), while the Liberal Arts departments (like history and psychology) are mainly filled with female undergraduates. I would like to see if subconsciously I have this link embedded in me, since I grew up with these scenarios in front of me, or instead if I don’t limit a gender to a certain study. I hope for the latter, but since my results have been unpredictable on this website, I’m going to assume that my expectation is incorrect and that I do indeed believe in such a link.

I can proudly say that my results were as initially accepted and that I showed ‘little or no automatic association between Female and Male with Science and Liberal Arts.’

 

Political Compass:

Having taken this test 3 years ago, my results back then were that I was a right-winged liberal. However, I know that my ideals and beliefs have changed since then, due to increased exposure of certain concepts and the reading of new more eye-opening topics. And so I would guess that my political compass would have shifted slightly to the left, not necessarily turning into an extreme left libertarian, but to have understood social and economic problems in a different way, therefore causing that shift. I also think that I have become more Liberal (shifting downwards), as I’ve definitely become more exposed to different social groups and situations, changing my ideals on many social topics.

My Compass:

I was surprised by my results, because I didn’t think my shift would be that dramatic. I turned out to become more left-winged, in the middle even, when I expected to just enter or touch the line between left and right-wing. It really makes me think of how a few years in a person’s life can change someone’s entire attitude and perspective on the world. I don’t think that 3 years ago I would have ever thought that my political compass would change, I guess I never grasped the extent of change entering university (a new chapter of my life) would have on me.

The website said that Ghandi had the same political compass, which made it a pleasant surprise! But even though it says so, I still find it hard, for some reason, to grasp the idea that we both have the same political leanings… Maybe it’s because his strong beliefs are what made him the influential person we now know of! It’s just hard for me to put us both in the same category!