Hidden Bias: Accurate or Not?

Today in class we took a test online to discover if we have any conscious or unconscious bias towards one race or another, focusing specifically on African Americans and European Americans. My result said that I had a slight automatic preferance to whites over blacks because of the speed of my responses to the test. However, I do not neccessarily believe this test was all that accurate. I believe that it is more due to the order of the photos we were shown. We were told to first link photos to European American or Good, and then asked to link photos to African American or Good. My mind was used to linking the first two ideas by the time the second set came, so it took a moment longer to adjust to the change. I really think that it was the order that caused my delayed reactions to the African American part of the test, so I do not believe that this is an accurate method of testing bias towards one race or another. Although I do not believe this was a very reliable test, I do think my result was probably accurate. I do not think I am racist by any means, but becasue I live in a predominatly Caucasion society, I think I have a natural tendancy to lean towards whites. When I go away to summer programs, I generally make friends first with other white kids. I do not do this because of the color of their skin, it really is just who I click with first, but I understand that it also could have to do with who I am more familiar with or relate to on a surface level automatically. I have nothing against people of other races, and I have many friends who are African American, Hispanic, Asian, or another minority that I am not surrounded by as frequently. I do not think of them as being a certain race or from a certain culture. It is not a factor in my relationships with them at all. Still, I do notice that the first people I tend to associate myself with are people who look more like me. This might mean, white, or brunet, or just soemone who is short, but I think it is easy to make these unconscious conections between oneself and a stranger. While I do not believe I am racist or act differently towards one race than another, I do see why I might have an unconscious tendancy to link myself with my own race over others. Nonetheless, I think this test was inaccurate and unreliable because of the order the pairs were set in.