When old and frail is not the same: Dissociating category and stimulus effects in four implicit attitude measurement methods

It is not always clear whether implicit attitude measures assess the attitude towards single stimuli or the attitude towards categories. Nevertheless, this is important to know—both for interpreting implicit attitude effects and for selecting the test that is most appropriate for individual research aims. We investigated this for four implicit measures: the standard Implicit Association Test (IAT), the IAT-recoding free (IAT-RF), and two versions of the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST, identification (ID)-EAST). Effects in the standard IAT reflect evaluations of categories and single stimuli, whereas the IAT-RF measures attitudes towards categories only. Both versions of the EAST measure evaluations of single stimuli independently from the evaluation of categories. Three different effect sources are distinguished: attitudes towards single stimuli (IAT; EAST and ID-EAST), attitudes towards target categories (IAT and IAT-RF), and processes of recoding (IAT), which do not necessarily reflect attitudes.     

Does Conventional Implicit Association Test of Shyness Measure “Self‐Shyness” or “Others‐Shyness”?

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures implicit associations between attitude targets and attributes. Its structure and procedure facilitate investigation of the strength of associations between one target and attributes relative to that between the other target and the same attributes when two targets are contradictory (e.g., black/white and comfortable/uncomfortable). This structure can cause conceptual complexity about what the IAT measures, particularly when a counter category is not needed. Thus, using the Single‐Target Implicit Association Test (ST‐IAT), which allowed only one target category for pairing with attributes, this paper delineated the association measured in the conventional IAT for shyness: “self‐shy” or “others‐shy.” Seventy‐seven Japanese university students completed the self‐report shyness scale, the conventional IAT, and two ST‐IATs (i.e., self/others as target). Results showed that implicit shyness produced in the conventional IAT significantly and positively correlated with that in the self‐targeted ST‐IAT. Moreover, implicit shyness in the conventional IAT was significantly accounted for by those produced by the ST‐IAT with self as target and those calculated in the ST‐IAT with others as target in opposite directions.     

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.     

Implicit Measures Reveal Evidence of Personal Discrimination

A well-known result, the person–group discrimination discrepancy (PGDD), shows that members of disadvantaged groups believe that other members of their social groups are discriminated against, but that they themselves are not. In this paper, we test whether this explicit self-protective strategy is also obtained on indirect measures of personal discrimination. Three experiments, using both explicit (self-report) and implicit (IAT) measures of discrimination showed that although members of disadvantaged groups do not explicitly report self-discrimination (replicating previous research), they do reveal self-discrimination on the implicit measure. That the PGDD effect is bound to explicit measurement should be recognized both when implementing research protocols and when understanding the effects of discrimination whether it is consciously recognized or not.     

IAT在内隐助人态度上的应用

内隐联想测验（Implicit Association Test）是研究内隐社会认知的一种新方法,根据内隐联想测验的基本原理,采用IAT对内隐助人态度进行了研究。主要采用词汇测验,目标概念是助人性和非助人性词汇,属性概念是积极词和消极词。通过比较目标概念和属性概念在不同联结情况下被试完成分类任务所用的反应时之差,来确定其是否具有倾向于助人的内隐态度。结果发现：1）IAT词汇测验中,助人性信息和积极性词汇之间的平均反应时小于助人性信息和消极性词汇之间的平均反应时,且差异显著;2）IAT测验中,男女被试间无显著性差异。研究表明,IAT可以应用于内隐助人态度的研究。     

评价单一态度对象的内隐社会认知测验方法

命中联系作业（GNAT）、外部情感西蒙作业（EAST）、单类内隐联想测验（SC-IAT）和单靶内隐联想测验（ST-IAT）是测验内隐社会认知的4种新方法,是内隐联想测验（IAT）的继承与发展,都可以用来评定对单一态度对象的联想强度。文章通过实例分别对这4种内隐社会认知测验方法的设计程序、信度以及适用性和局限性进行了分析,并在比较的基础上进行了评价和展望     

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     

Implicit attitudes towards meat and vegetables in vegetarians and nonvegetarians

Previous research, in which self‐report measures were used, showed that vegetarians have more negative beliefs about meat than nonvegetarians. An important limitation of this research is that it did not examine differences in spontaneous affective reactions (i.e., implicit attitudes) towards meat and other types of food. We therefore conducted a new study in which not only self‐report measures were used, but also two tasks that have been developed to measure implicit attitudes: The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and a pictorial version of the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST). Both the IAT and EAST revealed that implicit attitudes towards vegetables (as compared to implicit attitudes towards meat) were more positive in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians. In line with previous findings, the self‐report measures showed that, compared to nonvegetarians, vegetarians had more positive attitudes towards vegetables and more negative attitudes towards meat. The IAT and EAST measures both correlated in the expected manner with self‐reported attitudes. A logistic regression showed that self‐reported attitudes were an almost perfect predictor of group status (vegetarian or nonvegetarian), and that adding the IAT and EAST measures as predictors did not improve prediction of group status. The results suggest that vegetarians and nonvegetarians differ in their spontaneous affective reaction towards vegetables or meat, and provide further evidence for the validity of the IAT and EAST as measures of inter‐individual differences in attitudes. Implicit attitudes could influence eating behaviour indirectly by biasing the decision to become a vegetarian or by determining how difficult it is for someone to maintain a vegetarian diet.     

Cultural differences in emotion regulation during self-reflection on negative personal experiences

Reflecting on negative personal experiences has implications for mood that may vary as a function of specific domains (e.g., achievement vs. interpersonal) and cultural orientation (e.g., interdependence vs. independence). This study investigated cultural differences in the social-cognitive and affective processes undertaken as Easterners and Westerners reflected on negative interpersonal and performance experiences. One hundred Asian Americans and 92 European-American college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: interpersonal rejection, achievement failure, or a control condition. Results revealed that Asian Americans experienced greater distress than European Americans after self-reflecting over a failed interpersonal experience, suggesting cultural sensitivity in the relational domain. Consistent with theoretical predictions, analysis of the social cognitive and affective processes that participants engaged in during self-reflection provided some evidence that self-enhancement may buffer distress for European Americans, while emotion suppression may be adaptive for Asian Americans.     

Explicit and implicit attitudes towards food and physical activity in childhood obesity

This study investigated differences in the explicit and implicit attitudes towards food and physical activities between children with obesity (n=38) and a matched control group (n=38). The implicit attitude was assessed using the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST; J. Exp. Psychol. (50) (2003) 77), a modified version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; J. Personality Social Psychol. (74) (1999) 1464). It was expected that both groups would report a positive explicit attitude towards healthy food and intense physical activities, and a negative explicit attitude towards unhealthy food and sedentary activities. Of particular interest was the hypothesis that children with obesity would have a more positive implicit attitude towards unhealthy food and sedentary activities than the control group. Results revealed no differences between groups in the explicit attitude towards food and physical activity. Children and adolescents with obesity had a more pronounced positive implicit attitude towards food in general. The relevance of these findings in terms of prevention, treatment and further research is discussed.     

How to like yourself better, or chocolate less: Changing implicit attitudes with one IAT task

The current paper introduces a novel feature of implicit association tests (IATs) by demonstrating their potential to change implicit attitudes. We assume that such changes are driven by associative learning mechanisms caused by carrying out an IAT task. Currently, evaluative conditioning appears to be the only widespread paradigm for changing implicit attitudes. An IAT task could provide an alternative. In two experiments, participants initially reacted to only one IAT task. Implicit preferences subsequently assessed with different implicit measures depended on the initial IAT task. This was shown for implicit self-esteem and for implicit attitudes towards well-known candy brands. Findings are discussed in relation to task-order effects in IATs.     

内隐联想测验“内隐性”的可控性研究

在许多社会科学研究中,社会称许性会对研究的效度产生不良影响。研究者希望能得到被试的真实态度和反应,从而极力避免这种社会称许性偏见。内隐测量工具的一个主要目的是让研究者能够获得未加任何粉饰的态度测量结果从而消除和避免自我表现和社会称许性。本文通过四个实验考察了内隐联想测验的可掩饰性、掩饰的持久性、掩饰的条件化和IAT经验的迁移性,结果显示：（1）被试可以通过一定的反应策略来掩饰其真实的内隐态度,从而使所测得的个体内隐态度和群体内隐态度失真,典型的反应策略是均衡相容和不相容任务的反应速度;（2）内隐联想测验的可掩饰性需以先前的IAT经验为基础,且IAT经验无需属于相同的测验范畴,对IAT原理的掌握将有助于被试成功地实施掩饰;（3）内隐联想测验的可掩饰性具有一定的时效性,先前的IAT经验越久远,则成功掩饰的可能性越低;总之,内隐联想测验并不能彻底避免社会称许性。     

Different attitudes toward humor between Chinese and American students: evidence from the Implicit Association Test

Although cross-cultural research indicates that Chinese people demonstrate less humor than do Americans, little research addresses the reasons. This cross-cultural difference may be largely due to different implicit attitudes toward humor held by Chinese and Americans, deeply rooted in the two cultural traditions. Both self-report evaluation and the Implicit Association Test (IAT) were used to compare Chinese and American attitudes toward humor. Although 60 Chinese undergraduate students showed no significant difference from 33 American exchange students in explicit attitudes toward humor, the former associated humor more frequently with unpleasant adjectives and seriousness with pleasant adjectives on the IAT; the opposite pattern was found for the American group. This indicated a negative implicit attitude toward humor among the Chinese students.     

Predicting the Vote through Implicit and Explicit Attitudes: A Field Research

Using the data collected by Itanes on a sample of the Italian population, representative according to the main sociodemographic variables, we analyzed the relations between voting intention, explicit and implicit political attitudes, and voting behavior. Participants (N = 1,377) were interviewed twice, both before and after the 2006 Italian National Election. The implicit attitudes (measured using the IAT) were substantially as effective as voting intention, and more effective than the explicit attitudes towards the main Italian political leaders, in forecasting the Election official results. When used to predict participants' voting behavior, the IAT added a significant, although slight, power to voting intention and explicit attitude. Inconsistency between explicit and implicit attitudes exerted a negative influence on the probability of having decided one's voting behavior in the preelectoral poll; however, among undecided participants, it did not significantly influence the probability of delaying one's voting decision and that of actually casting a valid vote. Limits and possible developments of this research are discussed.     

The IAT as a predictor of food choice: The case of fruits versus snacks

One of the issues concerning the application of implicit measures like the IAT is whether they can be successfully applied to consumer choices. The empirical evidence of the predictive validity of the IAT so far has been mixed, both at the level of eating habits and of specific behavioural food choices. Moreover, whereas the predictive validity of the IAT has been tested in a number of studies, its incremental validity has not been studied as thoroughly. In this contribution, four studies, run at different points in time and analysed as a single sample (N = 399), tested the predictive and incremental validity of an IAT of attitudes towards fruits versus snacks on the choice of a fruit or a snack at the end of the experimental session. Specifically, an additive pattern in which both implicit and explicit measures predict independently, and an interactive one in which implicit and explicit measures predict interactively, were tested for the prediction of the behavioural preference towards snacks or fruits. The results showed that the IAT has both predictive and incremental validity, over and above the significant prediction provided by explicit measures for behavioural food choice. Furthermore, no interaction effect between implicit and explicit measures in the behavioural prediction was obtained, supporting the additive rather than the interactive pattern. Finally, only the explicit attitude towards snacks predicted behavioural choice whereas the explicit attitude towards fruits did not. This result indirectly suggests that a single target IAT might be fruitfully adopted in future research.     

Reactions to the implicit association test as an educational tool: A mixed methods study

We examined reactions to the Race Implicit Association Test (IAT), which has been widely used but rarely examined as an educational tool to raise awareness about racial bias. College students $(N=172)$ were assigned to read that the IAT reflected either personal beliefs or both personal and extrapersonal factors (single vs. multiple explanation conditions). They then completed the IAT and quantitative measures of affect, attitudes, and belief in bias. A subset of participants $(n=32)$ also wrote reaction papers, which were used to develop qualitative themes to more fully describe reactions to the IAT. Quantitative results revealed that participants with a stronger implicit preference for European Americans more strongly believed in implicit bias in the multiple (vs. single) explanation condition. Mixed methods analyses using data transformation and typology development indicated that participants whose qualitative IAT responses were more negative were subsequently more likely to help an African American.     

内隐关系评估程序(IRAP)：测量原理及应用

内隐关系评估程序(Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure, 简称IRAP)是基于关系结构理论直接测量社会认知、信念或态度的新内隐测量方法, 具备一定的可靠性和有效性, 并与其它相关测量方法的适用性存在一定差异。不同的理论模型为IRAP的不同效应提供了解释。IRAP最初应用于临床诊断性研究, 新近已扩展到自我、社会认知、群体和态度等研究领域。进一步验证不同形式IRAP的信效度、探究IRAP的心理机制及产生的心理效应、在不同领域发挥IRAP的方法优势等将是未来研究的重要方向。     

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.     

Explicit self-criticism and implicit self-regard: Evaluating self and friend in two cultures

Past research indicates that people in some Asian cultures (e.g., Japan) often explicitly evaluate themselves negatively while implicitly maintaining positive self-evaluations. Two studies provided evidence for the hypothesis that this pattern of explicit and implicit self-evaluations is quite common even outside of Asia, as long as the evaluations are assessed in the context of close, interdependent social relations. Thus, Study 1 applied a modified version of Implicit Association Test to both Japanese and Americans, and showed that the above pattern occurs in both cultures if the self is evaluated vis-à-vis one’s actual friend. Further, Study 2 indicated that when placed in a context that has neither actual nor presumed emotional interdependence, both Japanese and Americans manifest positive self-evaluations at both explicit and implicit levels. Implications for cultural crafting of the self are discussed.     

Using the implicit association test across cultures: A case of implicit self-esteem in Japan and Canada

Previous research has suggested that implicit self-esteem might be universally positive. In the present study implicit self-esteem, as measured by the implicit association test (IAT), was found to be positive in both Japanese and Canadian participants. However, contrary to prior research, Japanese participants were found to have significantly lower implicit self-esteem than Canadians. Japanese participants also had lower scores on an exploratory measure of collective implicit self-esteem. In general, the results of the present study point to the complexities in the study of implicit self-esteem across cultures. Inconsistencies between the present and previous research might reflect divergent methodologies used in the IAT. The applicability of the IAT in a cross-cultural setting is discussed.