What Does the Implicit Association Test Measure? A Test of the Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Prejudice-Related IATs

2002 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram Gawronski
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Recent Criticism ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
East Asians ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
Explicit Prejudice ◽  
Turkish People

Abstract. Drawing on recent criticism of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the present study tested the convergent and discriminant validity of two prejudice-related IATs to corresponding explicit prejudice measures in a German student sample (N = 61). Confirming convergent validity, (a) an IAT designed to assess negative associations related to Turkish people was significantly related to the explicit endorsement of prejudiced beliefs about Turkish people, and (b) an IAT designed to assess negative associations related to East Asians was significantly related to explicit prejudice against East Asians. Moreover, confirming discriminant validity, (c) the Asian IAT was unrelated to the explicit endorsement of prejudiced beliefs about Turkish people, and (d) the Turkish IAT was unrelated to explicit prejudice against Asian people. These results further corroborate the assumption that the IAT is a valid method to assess the strength of evaluative associations in the domain of prejudice and stereotypes.

scholarly journals Health of the Implicit Association Test at Age 3

2001 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Greenwald ◽  
Brian A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
Attitude Measures ◽  
New Evidence

Abstract. Since its first publication in 1998, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has been used repeatedly to measure implicit attitudes and other automatic associations. Although there have also been a few studies critical of the IAT, there now exists substantial evidence for the IAT's convergent and discriminant validity, including new evidence reported in several of the articles in this special issue. IAT attitude measures have often correlated only weakly with explicit (self-report) measures of the same associations. It therefore seems appropriate to conclude that the IAT assesses constructs that are often (but not always) distinct from the corresponding constructs measured by self-report.

scholarly journals Health of the Implicit Association Test at Age 3

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Greenwald ◽  
Brian A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Convergent And Discriminant Validity ◽  
Attitude Measures ◽  
New Evidence

Since its first publication in 1998, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has been used repeatedly to measure implicit attitudes and other automatic associations. Although there have also been a few studies critical of the IAT, there now exists substantial evidence for the IAT=s convergent and discriminant validity, including new evidence reported in several of the articles in this special issue. IAT attitude measures have often correlated only weakly with explicit (self-report) measures of the same associations. It therefore seems appropriate to conclude that the IAT assesses constructs that are often (but not always) distinct from the corresponding constructs measured by self-report.

scholarly journals Applying the Implicit Association Test to Measure Intolerance of Uncertainty

2016 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Oriana Mosca ◽  
Francesco Dentale ◽  
Marco Lauriola ◽  
Luigi Leone
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Student Sample

Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a key trans-diagnostic personality construct strongly associated with anxiety symptoms. Traditionally, IU is measured through self-report measures that are prone to bias effects due to impression management concerns and introspective difficulties. Moreover, self-report scales are not able to intercept the automatic associations that are assumed to be main determinants of several spontaneous responses (e.g., emotional reactions). In order to overcome these limitations, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) was applied to measure IU, with a particular focus on reliability and criterion validity issues. The IU-IAT and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Inventory (IUI) were administered to an undergraduate student sample (54 females and 10 males) with a mean age of 23 years ( SD = 1.7). Successively, participants were asked to provide an individually chosen uncertain event from their own lives that may occur in the future and were requested to identify a number of potential negative consequences of it. Participants’ responses in terms of cognitive thoughts (i.e., cognitive appraisal) and worry reactions toward these events were assessed using the two subscales of the Worry and Intolerance of Uncertainty Beliefs Questionnaire. The IU-IAT showed an adequate level of internal consistency and a not significant correlation with the IUI. A path analysis model, accounting for 35% of event-related worry, revealed that IUI had a significant indirect effect on the dependent variable through event-related IU thoughts. By contrast, as expected, IU-IAT predicted event-related worry independently from IU thoughts. In accordance with dual models of social cognition, these findings suggest that IU can influence event-related worry through two different processing pathways (automatic vs. deliberative), supporting the criterion and construct validity of the IU-IAT. The potential role of the IU-IAT for clinical applications was discussed.

The Implicit Association Test: A Method in Search of a Construct

2019 ◽  
pp. 174569161986379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Schimmack
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Measurement Model ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Racial Preferences ◽  
Reduce Measurement Error ◽  
Attitude Measures

In 1998, Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz proposed that the Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures individual differences in implicit social cognition. This claim requires evidence of construct validity. I review the evidence and show that there is insufficient evidence for this claim. Most important, I show that few studies were able to test discriminant validity of the IAT as a measure of implicit constructs. I examine discriminant validity in several multimethod studies and find little or no evidence of discriminant validity. I also show that validity of the IAT as a measure of attitudes varies across constructs. Validity of the self-esteem IAT is low, but estimates vary across studies. About 20% of the variance in the race IAT reflects racial preferences. The highest validity is obtained for measuring political orientation with the IAT (64%). Most of this valid variance stems from a distinction between individuals with opposing attitudes, whereas reaction times contribute less than 10% of variance in the prediction of explicit attitude measures. In all domains, explicit measures are more valid than the IAT, but the IAT can be used as a measure of sensitive attitudes to reduce measurement error by using a multimethod measurement model.

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

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik Slabbinck ◽  
Jan De Houwer ◽  
Patrick Van Kenhove
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Convergent Validity ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Incremental Validity ◽  
Implicit Motives ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Predicting Performance ◽  
Picture Story Exercise ◽  
Picture Story

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.

Men Are Hierarchical, Women Are Egalitarian: An Implicit Gender Stereotype

2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Schmid Mast
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Gender Stereotype ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Two Samples

The goal of the present study was to provide empirical evidence for the existence of an implicit hierarchy gender stereotype indicating that men are more readily associated with hierarchies and women are more readily associated with egalitarian structures. To measure the implicit hierarchy gender stereotype, the Implicit Association Test (IAT, Greenwald et al., 1998) was used. Two samples of undergraduates (Sample 1: 41 females, 22 males; Sample 2: 35 females, 37 males) completed a newly developed paper-based hierarchy-gender IAT. Results showed that there was an implicit hierarchy gender stereotype: the association between male and hierarchical and between female and egalitarian was stronger than the association between female and hierarchical and between male and egalitarian. Additionally, men had a more pronounced implicit hierarchy gender stereotype than women.

Items’ Cross-Category Associations as a Confounding Factor in the Implicit Association Test

2001 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie C. Steffens ◽  
Inga Plewe
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Confounding Factor ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Association Test ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reaction Time Difference ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
Degree Of Association

Abstract. The introduction of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998 ) has stimulated numerous research activities. The IAT is supposed to measure the degree of association between concepts. Instances have to be assigned to these concepts by pressing appropriate keys as quickly as possible. The reaction time difference between certain conditions, termed the IAT effect, is used as an indicator of the degree of the concepts’ association. We tested the hypothesis that the degree of association between one concept (or category) and the instances of the other presented concept also influences reaction times. In our experiment, the instances in the target categories, male and female names, were kept constant. The adjectives in the evaluative categories were manipulated: Either the pleasant adjectives were female-associated and the unpleasant adjectives were male-associated, or vice versa. These stereotypic associations were indeed found to exert a substantial influence on the size of the IAT effect. This finding casts doubt on the assumption that the IAT effect may be interpreted as a pure measure of the degree of association between concepts.

Implicit Association Test: Separating Transsituationally Stable and Variable Components of Attitudes toward Gay Men

2003 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie C. Steffens ◽  
Axel Buchner
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Implicit Attitudes ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Situational Factor ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Implicit Attitude ◽  
Implicit Association

Implicit attitudes are conceived of as formed in childhood, suggesting extreme stability. At the same time, it has been shown that implicit attitudes are influenced by situational factors, suggesting variability by the moment. In the present article, using structural equation modeling, we decomposed implicit attitudes towards gay men into a person factor and a situational factor. The Implicit Association Test ( Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998 ), introduced as an instrument with which individual differences in implicit attitudes can be measured, was used. Measurement was repeated after one week (Experiment 1) or immediately (Experiment 2). Explicit attitudes towards gay men as assessed by way of questionnaires were positive and stable across situations. Implicit attitudes were relatively negative instead. Internal consistency of the implicit attitude assessment was exemplary. However, the within-situation consistency was accompanied by considerable unexplained between-situation variability. Consequently, it may not be adequate to interpret an individual implicit attitude measured at a given point in time as a person-related, trait-like factor.

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