Using the implicit association test to measure self-esteem and self-concept

Experiment 1 used the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) to measure self-esteem by assessing automatic associations of self with positive or negative valence. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that two IAT measures defined a factor that was distinct from, but weakly correlated with, a factor defined by standard explicit (self-report) measures of self-esteem. Experiment 2 tested known-groups validity of two IAT gender self-concept measures. Compared with well-established explicit measures, the IAT measures revealed triple the difference in measured masculinity-femininity between men and women. Again, CFA revealed construct divergence between implicit and explicit measures. Experiment 3 assessed the self-esteem IAT's validity in predicting cognitive reactions to success and failure. High implicit self-esteem was associated in the predicted fashion with buffering against adverse effects of failure on two of four measures.     

Validity of a happiness Implicit Association Test as a measure of subjective well-being

The current study examined the validity of a happiness Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of SWB. One hundred and fifty participants (75 pairs of friends) completed a newly developed happiness IAT and a standard self-esteem IAT. Participants also made self and informant ratings of life satisfaction and happy and sad affect. The results revealed convergent validity among the explicit measures, and among the implicit measures. Explicit–implicit correlations were lower. Self-ratings (.88) and informant ratings (.78) were more highly related with a common SWB factor than the implicit measures (.31). This finding suggests that implicit measures of well-being and happiness assess a different construct that overlaps only modestly with SWB. As a result, these implicit measures have limited utility to control for response styles in self-ratings of SWB.     

内隐自尊与外显自尊的关系:多重内隐测量的视角

本研究以102名大学生为被试,从多重内隐测量的视角出发,运用内隐联想测验（IAT）、Go／No-go联想任务（GNAT）和外部情绪性Simon任务（EAST）三种实验程序对内隐自尊及其特性进行了测量和研究,同时运用结构方程建模对内隐自尊和外显自尊的结构关系进行了探讨。结果表明：（1）IAT、GNAT和EASI这三种基于反应时范式的内隐自尊测量方法是有效的,均能有效检测出内隐自尊效应,内隐自尊的特性表现为个体倾向于将自我与积极属性或事物相联,将他人与消极属性或事物相联;（2）内隐自尊与外显自尊是分离的结构,两者是相对独立的两个自我评价系统,支持内隐自尊和外显自尊的两维结构说;（3）双重态度模型和信息加工双过程模型两种理论模型都可以解释内隐自尊和外显自尊的分离现象。     

内隐联想测验：信度、效度及原理

内隐联想测验（Implicit Association Test）是一种评估个体对两个概念的自动化联系强度的间接测量方法,近年来被广泛应用于内隐社会认知研究。有很多证据显示,较之于外显测验,IAT能为研究提供更多新的信息,但其信度、效度指标都有待改善,而且不同学者对其测验原理仍有不同解释。因此,研究者对IAT的应用及对其结果的解释需持谨慎态度。另外,文章还简单介绍了IAT数据处理的新方法和一些IAT的变式。     

A pictorial attitude IAT as a measure of implicit motives

We tested the hypothesis that a pictorial attitude variant of the Implicit Association Test (PA‐IAT) is a valid measure of implicit motives. The PA‐IAT aims to capture attitudes towards pictures that are related to implicit motives. In the first two studies, we showed that the pictorial attitude Implicit Association Test (IAT) correlated more highly with non‐IAT measures of implicit motives than other IAT variants. In the third study, we established the validity of the PA‐IAT experimentally and showed that the pictorial attitude IAT correlated with non‐declarative behavioural measures only if implicit motives were aroused. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

外显与内隐自尊对大学生主观幸福感的预测

本研究通过运用内隐联想测验和量表法对111名大学生进行测试,在确认自尊结构的基础上,考察外显和内隐自尊对主观幸福感的预测。结果发现:(1)大学生自尊结构是双重的,存在外显自尊和内隐自尊两种成分;(2)外显自尊和内隐自尊都可以显著预测大学生主观幸福感。     

Implicit self-esteem in the context of trait models of personality

Although the basic dimensions of personality are strongly associated with individual differences in (explicit) self-esteem, the relations between personality and implicit self-esteem have not been systematically researched. In three studies, implicit self-evaluations (measured both with the Name-Letter Test and the self-esteem IAT) were generally independent of personality self-reports (Studies 1–3) and peer-reports (Study 3). Moreover, the implicit measures were also independent of one another. Discussion centers on the problems and promises of implicit measures as indicators of individual differences in self-esteem and their relation to personality.     

Reliability of implicit self‐esteem measures revisited

This study investigated the internal consistencies and temporal stabilities of different implicit self‐esteem measures. Participants (N = 101) responded twice—with a time lag of 4 weeks—to five different tasks: the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT), the Affective Priming Task (APT), the Identification‐Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (ID‐EAST) and the Name‐Letter Task (NLT). As expected, the highest reliability coefficients were obtained for the self‐esteem IAT. Importantly, the internal consistencies and the temporal stabilities of the APT, the ID‐EAST, and the NLT were substantially improved by using material, structural, and analytic innovations. In particular, the use of the adaptive response‐window procedure for the APT, the computation of error scores for the ID‐EAST, and the computation of a double corrected scoring algorithm for the NLT yielded reliability coefficients comparable to those of the established IAT. Implications for the indirect assessment of self‐esteem are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convergent,Discriminant, and Incremental Validity of the Pictorial Attitude Implicit Association Test and the Picture Story Exercise as Measures of the Implicit Power Motive

The Pictorial Attitude Implicit Association Test (PA‐IAT) has recently been proposed as new measure of implicit motives. We report a study that provides the first evidence for the convergent validity of the PA‐IAT by showing that the PA‐IAT correlates significantly with a standard measure of implicit motives [i.e. the Picture Story Exercise (PSE)]. Discriminant validity of the PA‐IAT was verified in the sense that the PA‐IAT shared virtually no common variance with explicit motive measures. Our analyses revealed that the PA‐IAT and PSE can best be conceived as related but distinct measures. We further showed that the PA‐IAT had incremental validity in predicting performance on a memory recall task over and above the PSE. In general, our results confirm that the PA‐IAT is a valid measure of implicit motives and can serve as valid alternative to the PSE. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predicting Self‐Confident Behaviour with Implicit and Explicit Self‐Esteem Measures

The present research compared the validity of popular direct and indirect measures of self‐esteem in predicting self‐confident behaviour in different social situations. In line with behavioural dual‐process models, both implicit and explicit self‐esteem were hypothesized to be related to appearing self‐confident to unacquainted others. A total of 127 participants responded to the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale, the Multidimensional Self‐Esteem Scale, and an adjective scale for measuring explicit self‐esteem (ESE). Participants' implicit self‐esteem (ISE) was assessed with four indirect measures: the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the name‐letter task (NLT), and two variants of an affective priming task, the reaction‐time affective priming task (RT‐APT) and the error‐based affective priming task (EB‐APT). Self‐confident behaviour was observed in four different social situations: (i) self‐introduction to a group; (ii) an ostracism experience; (iii) an interview about the ostracism experience; and (iv) an interview about one's personal life. In general, appearing self‐confident to unknown others was independently predicted by ESE and ISE. The indirect measures of self‐esteem were, as expected, not correlated, and only the self‐esteem APTs—but not the self‐esteem IAT or the NLT—predicted self‐confident behaviours. It is important to note that in particular the predictive power of the self‐esteem EB‐APT pertained to all four criteria and was incremental to the ESE measures. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

An assessment of the fakeability of self-report and implicit personality measures

Researchers are focusing on developing implicit measures of personality to address concerns related to the faking of self-report measures. The present study examined the validity and fakeability of Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures of personality self-concept in a repeated-measures design (N = 33). People’s predictions about how they represented themselves on the measures were also assessed. Results indicated that participants were able fake self-report measures when instructed to do so and that they could accurately predict how they represented themselves on these measures. Participants were also able to fake an IAT measure of Extraversion, but were unable to fake an IAT measure of Conscientiousness or predict how they represented themselves on either IAT measure.     

Do self‐presentation concerns moderate the relationship between implicit and explicit homonegativity measures?

This study investigated whether the relation between implicit and explicit homonegativity measures is affected by self-presentation concerns, since previous research in this area has been inconclusive. In Experiment 1, 70 high-school students made evaluative ratings of pictures of homosexual and heterosexual couples. Self-presentation was manipulated by either instructing participants that the study concerned attitudes regarding sexual orientation (socially sensitive) or attitudes regarding age (less sensitive). The age-instruction led to increased homonegativity but not to a stronger correlation with an Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998) with homo/heterosexual couples. Concerns regarding the construct validity of the present implementation of the IAT were alleviated in Experiment 2, where heterosexual (n= 30) but not homosexual (n= 30) participants showed implicit homonegativity. The current findings are problematic for the interpretation of low correspondence between implicit and explicit attitude measures as being primarily an effect of self-presentation concerns.     

Consequential validity of the implicit association test: comment on Blanton and Jaccard (2006)

Numeric values of psychological measures often have an arbitrary character before research has grounded their meanings, thereby providing what S. J. Messick (1995) called consequential validity (part of which H. Blanton and J. Jaccard now identify as metric meaningfulness). Some measures are predisposed by their design to acquire meanings easily, an example being the sensitivity measure of signal detection theory. Others are less well prepared, illustrated by most self-report measures of self-esteem. Counter to Blanton and Jaccard's characterization, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has properties that predispose it to acquire consequential validity rapidly. With the IAT as the subject of over 250 publications since 1998, there is now much evidence for its consequential validity. The IAT has attracted more scholarly criticism than have other measures designed for similar purposes. The authors speculate as to why the IAT is an attractive target.     

Reliability and validity of the Single‐Target IAT (ST‐IAT): assessing automatic affect towards multiple attitude objects

In contrast to the original Implicit Association Test (IAT), the Single‐Target Implicit Association Test (ST‐IAT) measures the evaluation of a target object without the need to simultaneously evaluate a counter‐category. The present research investigates (a) whether position within a series of several ST‐IATs affects reliability and validity, and (b) whether the ST‐IAT exhibits adequate construct validity if the target objects are closely interrelated. We address these questions by taking five interrelated yet distinct political parties in Germany as an exemplary domain. The ST‐IAT reliably and validly assessed attitudes towards political parties (Study 1). Serial position effects did not affect the results. The ST‐IATs mostly captured a specific party evaluation and exhibited discriminant validity. At the same time, discriminant validity was limited among parties within one wing of the political left–right spectrum that underlies implicit and explicit party evaluations (Study 2). If used with caution, the ST‐IAT can be a valuable supplement to implicit measures in the case of multiple single‐target assessments. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is the Implicit Association Test a Valid and Valuable Measure of Implicit Consumer Social Cognition?

This article discusses the need for more satisfactory implicit measures in consumer psychology and assesses the theoretical foundations, validity, and value of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of implicit consumer social cognition. Study 1 demonstrates the IAT's sensitivity to explicit individual differences in brand attitudes, ownership, and usage frequency, and shows their correlations with lAT‐based measures of implicit brand attitudes and brand relationship strength. In Study 2, the contrast between explicit and implicit measures of attitude toward the ad for sportswear advertisements portraying African American (Black) and European American (White) athlete–spokespersons revealed different patterns of responses to explicit and implicit measures in Black and White respondents. These were explained in terms of self‐presentation biases and system justification theory. Overall, the results demonstrate that the IAT enhances our understanding of consumer responses, particularly when consumers are either unable or unwilling to identify the sources of influence on their behaviors or opinions.     

Using the implicit association test to measure age differences in implicit social cognitions

Two studies investigated the use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) to study age differences in implicit social cognitions. Study I collected IAT (implicit) and explicit (self-report) measures of age attitudes, age identity, and self-esteem from young, young-old, and old-old participants. Study 2 collected IAT and explicit measures of attitudes toward flowers versus insects from young and old participants. Results show that the IAT provided theoretically meaningful insights into age differences in social cognitions that the explicit measures did not, supporting the value of the IAT in aging research. Results also illustrate that age-related slowing must be considered in analysis and interpretation of IAT measures.     

内隐自尊的特性：来自EAST的证据

采用外部情绪性Simon任务（EAST）对109名大学生对代表自我和他人的刺激词的态度差异进行测量,从而探讨内隐自尊的特性。结果显示：在个体的认知图式中,对自我持有一种内隐的积极的评价或态度,对他人持有一种内隐的相对消极的评价或态度。具体表现在：（1）内隐自尊的特性是将自己与积极的评价和情感相联系,将他人与消极的评价和情感相联系;（2）自我姓名激活的积极的内隐自我态度比一般性自我词更为强烈,而他人姓名激活的消极的内隐态度比一般性非我词更弱。本研究表明,EAST能有效检测出内隐自尊效应,并可以同时获得个体对自我和他人的内隐态度的强度和方向,为内隐自尊研究提供了一种新的有效的方法,但其应用仍需谨慎。     

The single category implicit association test as a measure of implicit social cognition

The Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) is a modification of the Implicit Association Test that measures the strength of evaluative associations with a single attitude object. Across 3 different attitude domains--soda brand preferences, self-esteem, and racial attitudes--the authors found evidence that the SC-IAT is internally consistent and makes unique contributions in the ability to understand implicit social cognition. In a 4th study, the authors investigated the susceptibility of the SC-IAT to faking or self-presentational concerns. Once participants with high error rates were removed, no significant self-presentation effect was observed. These results provide initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the SC-IAT as an individual difference measure of implicit social cognition.     

Measuring the automatic negative self-schema: New evidence for the construct and criterion validity of the Depression Implicit Association

The construct and criterion validity of the Depression Implicit Association Test (Depression IAT) as a marker of an automatic negative self-schema was investigated. The Depression IAT and other measures were administered to a sample of 116 participants (72 females) aged 37.28 (SD = 15.69) that was composed by 56 patients with an history of suicide ideation (SI) and by 60 university students. Combining students and patients’ sub-samples, results revealed that the Depression IAT was significantly and positively correlated with self-report scales of depression and hopelessness as well as with implicit and explicit measures of death-life identification. On the contrary, it was negatively correlated with life satisfaction, optimism, and self-esteem scales. These results give new evidence for the construct validity of the Depression IAT. Moreover, considering only the patients’ sub-sample, significant correlations between Depression IAT scores and SI in the last year, month, and week, as well as in a follow-up observation two months later, were found. These correlations remain unchanged even when the Death IAT was controlled for, supporting the incremental validity of the Depression IAT. Overall, these results provide new evidence for the construct and criterion validity of the Depression IAT as a marker of an automatic negative self-schema.     

The development and validation of an implicit measure of competence need satisfaction

Research on self-determination theory has typically relied on explicit measures when examining the concept of competence need satisfaction. As a result, we know relatively little about competence need satisfaction that arises under conditions of automaticity. Across four studies, we developed and validated implicit measures of competence need satisfaction by drawing on two tasks: a relational variant of the implicit association test (IAT; Study 1, 3, and 4) and the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP; Study 2–3). Results across these studies revealed that both implicit measures were either unrelated or moderately related to their explicit counterpart. They were also unrelated to one another. Unlike the IRAP, the IAT was found to be reliable, to display discriminant validity, and to yield meaningful but modest relations with constructs in a nomological network. Together, these results provide modest support for the usefulness of the competence need satisfaction IAT but not of the competence need satisfaction IRAP as an implicit measure of the need for competence. Future research examining the unique predictive value of this IAT is needed, together with research on possible explanations for the low reliability of the IRAP.