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

Author(s):  
Melanie C. Steffens ◽  
Axel Buchner

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.

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Jost

The implicit association test (IAT) is one of several measures of implicit attitudes, but it has attracted especially intense criticism. Some methodological objections are valid, but they are damning only if one accepts false analogies between the IAT and measures of intellectual aptitude, clinical diagnosis, or physical height. Other objections are predicated on misconceptions of the nature of attitudes (which are context-sensitive and reflect personal and cultural forces) or the naive assumption that people cannot be biased against their own group. Other criticisms are ideological, pertaining to questions of moral and political value, such as whether it is good to have fewer pro-White/anti-Black implicit attitudes and to provide respondents with feedback about their implicit attitudes. Implicit-attitude measures have been extremely useful in predicting voting and other political behavior. An indirect, unobtrusive, context-sensitive measure of attitudes is far more useful to social and political psychologists than an IQ test or clinical “diagnosis” would be, insofar as it reflects a dynamic Lewinian conception of the “person in the situation.”


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert-Jan de Bruijn ◽  
Mario Keer ◽  
Mark Conner ◽  
Ryan E. Rhodes

An implicit association test (IAT) was used to investigate how habit strength, implicit attitudes and fruit consumption interrelate. Fifty-two participants completed a computerized IAT and provided measures of fruit consumption and related habit strength. Implicit attitudes moderated the habit strength—fruit consumption relationship; stronger relationships were observed when implicit attitudes were more positive. Amongst those with strong fruit habits, more positive associations with fruit were found for those who had recently consumed sufficient fruits compared to those who had not. Findings demonstrate the relevance of implicit positive associations in understanding the relationship between fruit consumption habits and subsequent fruit consumption.


Author(s):  

Rationale: The significance of this research stems from the impact implicit attitudes have on smoking behavior, where positive implicit attitudes can result in a greater likelihood of smoking behavior. Even though it has previously been argued that implicit attitudes can drive addictive behavior there is a lack of research on whether cigarette packaging has an influence on implicit attitudes. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of plain cigarette packaging and designed/logo cigarette packaging on implicit attitudes. Methods: Implicit attitudes towards cigarette packaging were assessed by means of the Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT). A questionnaire was conducted to assess sociodemographic and smoking behavior. The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) was used to assess level of dependence. The sample consisted of 264 participants. Results: BIAT indicate a significant association between designed/logo cigarette packaging and positive implicit attitudes (Mean d-score > .15). Cigarette packaging design’s influence on implicit attitudes is positive (Mean d-score = .22), where there is a slight association between designed/logo packaging and positive implicit attitudes. Conclusions: When compared with plain packaging, designed/logo cigarette packaging leads to positive implicit attitudes. These findings support the effectiveness of plain packaging regulations where the removal of color, design and logo from cigarette packaging will decrease positive implicit attitudes formed by cigarette packaging.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-425
Author(s):  
Ryan C. Erps ◽  
Kimihiro Noguchi

A new two-sample test for comparing variability measures is proposed. To make the test robust and powerful, a new modified structural zero removal method is applied to the Brown–Forsythe transformation. The t-test-based statistic allows results to be expressed as the ratio of mean absolute deviations from median. Extensive simulation study demonstrates that the proposed test is robust to small or unequal sample sizes across many distributions. Moreover, careful exploratory analysis provides a new method for calculating the implicit association test scores for reaction time data with multiplicative treatment effects. Using this, a possible difference between variability of men and women’s implicit attitudes toward gay men is analyzed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte Bardin ◽  
Stéphane Perrissol ◽  
Jacques Py ◽  
Céline Launay ◽  
Florian Escoubès

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is used to assess attitude beyond the limitations of explicit measurements. Nevertheless, the test requires opposition between two attitude objects and also measures an extra-personal dimension of attitude that may reflect associations shared collectively. The first limitation can be overcome by using a Single Category IAT and the second by a personalized version of IAT. This study compares attitudes to smoking measured using a Single Category IAT with a personalized version of the test. The results, collected from 111 students, showed that the Single Category IAT did not distinguish smokers from non-smokers; smokers had negative scores. The personalized version did distinguish smokers from non-smokers, and smokers' scores seem to be neutral.


Author(s):  
Henning Plessner ◽  
Rainer Banse

Abstract. Three years ago, Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz (1998 ) presented a new method to measure differential evaluative association of two target concepts: the Implicit Association Test (IAT). It has been asserted that the IAT allows for the assessment of implicit attitudes by comparing response times in two combined discrimination tasks. Although the distribution and employment of this method has been quite successful, the processes underlying IAT-effects, as well as the psychometric properties of specific IAT-variants, have received relatively little attention up to now. The articles included in the present special issue especially focus on these aspects.


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