Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction.

The present research examined how implicit racial associations and explicit racial attitudes of Whites relate to behaviors and impressions in interracial interactions. Specifically, the authors examined how response latency and self-report measures predicted bias and perceptions of bias in verbal and nonverbal behavior exhibited by Whites while they interacted with a Black partner. As predicted, Whites' self-reported racial attitudes significantly predicted bias in their verbal behavior to Black relative to White confederates. Furthermore, these explicit attitudes predicted how much friendlier Whites felt that they behaved toward White than Black partners. In contrast, the response latency measure significantly predicted Whites' nonverbal friendliness and the extent to which the confederates and observers perceived bias in the participants' friendliness.     

Implicit and explicit prejudice in the 2008 American presidential election

The 2008 US presidential election was an unprecedented opportunity to study the role of racial prejudice in political decision making. Although explicitly expressed prejudice has declined dramatically during the last four decades, more subtle implicit forms of prejudice (which come to mind automatically and may influence behavior unintentionally) may still exist. In three surveys of representative samples of American adults, explicit and implicit prejudice were measured during the months preceding the election. Both explicit and implicit prejudice were significant predictors of later vote choice. Citizens higher in explicit prejudice were less likely to vote for Barack Obama and more likely to vote for John McCain. After controlling for explicit prejudice, citizens higher in implicit prejudice were less likely to vote for Obama, but were not more likely to vote for McCain. Instead, they were more likely to either abstain or to vote for a third-party candidate rather than Obama. The results suggest that racial prejudice may continue to influence the voting process even among people who would not endorse these attitudes.     

Implicit and explicit prejudice toward overweight and average-weight men and women: testing their correspondence and relation to behavioral intentions

The authors examined prejudice toward overweight men and women. Participants (N = 76) indicated their perceptions, attitudes, behavioral intentions, and implicit associations toward an average-weight or overweight man or woman. Results indicated the presence of explicit and implicit antifat prejudice, with male participants showing greater negativity toward overweight targets. Analyses of covariance indicated that overweight targets received greater derogation than did their average-weight counterparts, regardless, for the most part, of the target's gender. With one exception, no significant relations emerged between explicit and implicit measures of weight bias. The authors discuss limitations of the study and implications for future research.     

Implicit and explicit memories of odors

The present experiments explore whether there may be some forms of implicit memory for odors. In the first experiment, the elaborateness of olfactory encoding was varied at presentation. For (explicit) recognition memory testing we found positive effects of labeling responses to odors at encoding. Implicit memory measures (temporal and preference judgments) did not reveal reliable effects of prior odor presentation, however. The second experiment corroborated effects of levels of processing on r recognition memory. Again, perceptual or affective judgments remained insensitive for prior odor exposures. Implicit memory could only be detected with verbal measures at the testing stage (labeling accuracy or latency). These results are consistent with the proposal that odor information is represented at different levels of processing that are even with implicit memory measures only partly accessible.     

The consequences of intergroup ideologies and prejudice control for discrimination and harmony

In the present study, we investigated two literature bases by way of a community survey across Australia. We investigated four acculturation orientations (assimilation, multiculturalism, color‐blind, and polyculturalism ideologies) and the motivations to respond without prejudice. We examined what predicted support for Harmony Day as well as explicit discrimination. Multiculturalism, polyculturalism, and internal motivation to respond without prejudice correlated with positive attitudes in both scenarios. External motivation to respond without prejudice was positively correlated with discrimination. Conversely, color‐blind ideology had no effect, and assimilation ideology related positively to explicit discrimination and negatively with Harmony Day. Using a multiple regression analysis, there was a difference in emphasis in different contexts. Our findings provide antiprejudice practitioners with material for discussions which can promote positive intergroup relations.     

Implicit and explicit learning: individual differences and IQ

We explored the degree to which individual differences in performance were observed in a group of subjects who worked with two different tasks: one implicit and one explicit. The implicit task was a standard artificial grammar-learning task; the explicit was a series-completion problem-solving task. Substantial individual differences were found between subjects on the explicit task; relatively small individual differences were found on the implicit task. Moreover, performance on the explicit task correlated strongly with intelligence quotient, but performance on the implicit task did not. Data from previous experiments were also found to be in agreement with these results. The findings are presented in the context of a general theory of implicit learning proposed recently by Reber (1989a, in press) that derives from considerations of the evolution of cognitive processes. This evolutionary model argues that unconscious, implicit induction systems are evolutionarily older and antedate conscious, explicit learning processes, and that this antiquity carries with it particular patterns of function that differentiate implicit processes from explicit processes.     

Social antecedents of children's implicit prejudice: Direct contact,extended contact,explicit and implicit teachers' prejudice

Recent research has shown that children display implicit prejudice at least by age six (Baron & Banaji, 2006). In the present study, we investigated some potential antecedents of children's implicit intergroup attitudes: direct contact, extended contact, explicit and implicit racial attitudes of children's favourite teacher. Participants were Italian elementary school students. Results showed that, unexpectedly, direct contact increased negative implicit attitudes toward immigrants; extended contact reduced implicit prejudice only among those with less direct contact experiences. In addition, teachers' implicit (but not explicit) prejudice predicted children's implicit prejudice. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed, together with the importance of the social environment in the formation of children's implicit intergroup attitudes.     

Implicit and explicit memory without awareness

Summary Three experiments are reported which investigate the conscious status of subjects during an implicit-memory test. In all experiments the subjects either named each visually presented target item or generated each item from an anagram in a first phase of incidental learning. In a second phase, they were either given a visual word-stem completion task as an implicit-memory test or given a recognition task (Experiment 1), or a cued-recall task (Experiments 2 and 3) as explicit-memory tests. Finally, in a third phase the subjects were required to make decisions about the input status (i. e., they had to decide whether the item was present in the first phase) as well as about the output status of information (i. e., they had to decide whether the item had been completed, recognized or recalled in the second phase). A generation effect (i. e., generated items were remembered better than named items) was evident in the recognition and recall data, but only for items whose recognition or recall was accompanied by conscious recollection of their previous occurrence in the study list. Judgments about the input status were more precise, given that items had been consciously recognized or recalled rather than completed. The same pattern of findings was observed for judgments about the output status. The results are interpreted as evidence that subjects in implicit-memory tests are less aware of the fact that some of their productions are relevant to prior experiences. In addition, they are less aware of the fact that they are retrieving information from their memories. However, the same state of nonawareness may be present in explicit-memory tests, as was revealed by the performance of subjects on those items whose recognition or recall was not accompanied by conscious recollection.     

On the self-regulation of implicit and explicit prejudice: a self -determination theory perspective

The present study identifies a broad taxonomy of motives underlying the desire to regulate prejudice and assess the impact of motivation to regulate prejudice on levels of explicit and implicit prejudice. Using self-determination theory as the foundation, six forms of motivation to regulate prejudice are proposed. In Study 1 (N = 257), an exploratory factor analysis reveals evidence for the six proposed dimensions. In Study 2 (N = 198), the six-factor taxonomy of motivation to regulate prejudice is further validated using a confirmatory factor analysis, and construct validity is obtained. In Study 3 (N = 62), motivation to regulate prejudice is manipulated before participants complete the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit measures of prejudice. Results reveal that those with highly self-determined regulation of prejudice demonstrate lower implicit and explicit prejudice than their less self-determined counterparts. Results are discussed in terms of an increased understanding of the motivation to control prejudice.     

Implicit and explicit memory for odors: Hemispheric differences

In two experiments, implicit and explicit tests were used to investigate the lateralization of odor memory. Odors were at all times presented monorhinically. At test, odors were presented to either the ipsi- or the contralateral side of the nostril used for inspection. In Experiment 1, participants were first primed to a set of odors. At test, response latencies for odor identification were measured. The results were that priming odors tested via the left but not the right nostril were identified faster than control odors. In Experiment 2, a similar design probed episodic recognition memory. Memory performance did not differ between the left and right nostrils, but the measures of response latency favored the right side. The study demonstrates that it is possible to tap differences in memory performance between the cerebral hemispheres through monorhinic presentation of odors in healthy persons, and that these differences depend on the test nostril rather than the inspection nostril.     

Implicit and explicit emotional behavior and mindfulness

The objective of this study was to examine whether the “step back and watch” attitude of mindfulness manifests in less emotional behavior. We hypothesized that the “acceptance” facet of mindfulness, but not the “presence” facet, is negatively associated with the magnitude of emotional behavior in four tests, i.e., (1) rating of words, (2) rating of aversive and neutral pictures, and (3) evaluative conditioning (EC). Additionally, we hypothesized that (4) the acceptance facet is associated with increased reaction time (RT) in an emotional Stroop test, and that the presence facet is associated with decreased RT and lower error rate. The sample consisted of N = 247 non-clinical adults and was tested in a cross-sectional study. The results provide partial evidence that the acceptance facet of mindfulness may be associated with less aversive reactions towards aversive stimuli. Future studies should substantiate these findings but also determine their clinical relevance.     

Implicit and explicit memory for visual patterns

The article reports an investigation of implicit and explicit memory for novel, visual patterns. Implicit memory was assessed by a speeded perception task, and explicit memory by a four-alternative, forced-choice recognition task. Tests were given either immediately after testing or 7 days later. The results suggest that a single exposure of a novel, nonverbal stimulus is sufficient to establish a representation in memory that is capable of supporting long-lived perceptual priming. In contrast, recognition memory showed significant loss over the same delay. Performance measures in the two tasks showed stochastic independence on the first trial after a single exposure to each pattern. Finally, a specific occurrence of a previously studied item could be retrieved from explicit memory but did not affect the accuracy of perception in the implicit memory test. The results extend the domain of experimental dissociations between explicit and implicit memory to include novel, nonverbal stimuli.     

Implicit and explicit memory bias in anxiety

Previous investigations of recall and recognition for threatening information in clinically anxious subjects have yielded equivocal results. The present study contrasts implicit (word completion) with explicit (cued recall) memory and shows that indices of bias for emotional material derived from the two types of memory are independent of one another. The explicit measure was correlated with trait anxiety scores, but did not clearly distinguish between subjects with clinical anxiety states and normal control subjects. On the implicit memory measure, clinically anxious subjects produced more threat word completions, but only from a set to which they had recently been exposed. These results are taken as evidence that internal representations of threat words are more readily or more persistently activated in anxiety states, although they are not necessarily better elaborated.     

Implicit and explicit memory for compound words

Subjects studied visually presented compound words (e.g.,toothpaste, heartache) and then received a recognition, perceptual identification, or word-fragment completion test that contained old, recombined (e.g.,toothache), and partially and completely new words. False recognitions increased with the increasing number of previously studied components; however, priming in perceptual identification occurred only for old words. Priming in word-fragment completion occurred for old and recombined words. Reducing the time available to solve word fragments, from 20 sec to 5 sec, did not affect the pattern of results; it is therefore unlikely that priming for recombined words resulted from the use of a recollection-based strategy. Memory tasks that involve a conceptual component access memories that are constructed from parts; memory tasks that are primarily perceptual do not access such memories.     

Implicit and explicit memory: Implications for the symbol-manipulation versus connectionism controversy

Summary This paper deals with three issues. First, the symbol-manipulation versus connectionism controversy is discussed briefly. Both can be seen as formalisms or languages for describing human behavior, but it is argued that these languages are not fully equivalent. The importance of the ability of connectionist models to learn autonomously, often underestimated, allows them to perform tasks that may defy formalization. Secondly, the structural and functional characteristics of a new connectionist learning model are presented. It avoids some of the psychological and biological implausibilities of currently popular models and solves some of the problems and shortcomings of these models. Thirdly, some simulation results are presented. The model successfully simulates the dissociation between explicit and implicit memory performance as found in patients with anterograde amnesia. This simulation provides an example of the advantages of using the connectionist language in the domain of memory psychology. It is also a good example of how psychological evidence can be used to improve connectionist models.The second author is supported by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)     

Implicit and explicit appraisals of the importance of intrusive thoughts

To evaluate cognitive theories of obsessions, the current study experimentally manipulated appraisals of the importance of intrusive thoughts. Undergraduate students (N = 156) completed measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms and beliefs and were primed with a list of commonly reported unwanted thoughts. Participants were then informed that unwanted thoughts are either (1) significant and indicative of their personal values, or (2) meaningless, or participants (3) received no instructions about unwanted thoughts. Participants then completed implicit and explicit measures of self-evaluation and interpretations of their unwanted thoughts. Results indicated that the manipulation shifted implicit appraisals of unwanted thoughts in the expected direction, but not self-evaluations of morality or dangerousness. Interestingly, explicit self-esteem and beliefs about the significance of unwanted thoughts were associated with measures of OCD beliefs, whereas implicit self-evaluations of dangerousness were better predicted by the interaction of pre-existing OCD beliefs with the manipulation. Results are discussed in terms of divergent predictors of implicit and explicit responses to unwanted thoughts.     

Implicit and explicit self-esteem in the context of internet addiction

Previous research has repeatedly found that people suffering from some clinical disorders (e.g., bulimia nervosa, depression) possess low explicit (i.e., conscious, deliberate) self-esteem while at the same time displaying high implicit (i.e., unconscious, automatic) self-esteem. This phenomenon has been termed damaged self-esteem and was proposed to be an indicator of psychological distress. Although Internet addiction has been found to be associated with low levels of explicit self-esteem, as well as with high levels of psychological distress, its relation to implicit self-esteem has, to our knowledge, not been investigated thus far. We therefore hypothesized that the phenomenon of damaged self-esteem could also be found amongst people suffering from Internet addiction, and conducted two studies using the Initial Preference Task as a measure of implicit self-esteem. As expected, we found that individuals scoring high on Internet addiction possess low explicit and high implicit self-esteem. This effect was, however, only found for the first name initial of the Initial Preference Task, leading to the conclusion that first and last name initials might tap into different parts of implicit self-esteem.     

Implicit and explicit attitudes in transportation research: A literature review

Dual-Process Models of Attitudes (DPMA) have provided new concepts and methods for attitude-behavior research in the field of transportation. Notwithstanding, there is a lack of critical reviews on this topic; leaving researchers with an unclear picture of the key issues to consider in developing new research. This paper reviews previous studies on DPMA in traffic and transportation research. A systematic review of English and non-English language articles using Transport Research International Documentation (TRID) as main database was conducted. Additional studies were identified by searching in ScienceDirect and Google Scholar. A total of 1674 references were revised. Twenty-eight articles met the inclusion criteria. Four central issues were examined: (a) the role of implicit and explicit attitudes in transport behavior, (b) the degree of relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes, (c) the types of measures used to assess implicit attitudes, and (d) the malleability of implicit attitudes. The review has identified that: (a) implicit attitudes were associated with a wide variety of transport-related behavior, (b) implicit and explicit attitudes were weakly correlated (mean correlation, weighted by sample size was r = 0.11), and little knowledge exists on factors moderating the implicit-explicit relationship, (c) the evidence on the indirect measures’ better resistance to social desirability bias as compared with traditional techniques is scant and inconclusive, (d) some studies exhibit problems in the application of indirect measures, and (e) few studies (n = 2) aimed to evaluate interventions for attitude change. The analysis showed the sustained growth of the applications, the potential of DPMA, and the need for more rigorous research. Most studies of area do not consider the theoretical and methodological shortcomings of the DPMA, and tend to be based on a controversial notion of implicit and explicit attitudes.