Emotional processing in individuals with psychopathic traits during the implicit association test: An Event-Related Potentials Study

Inhibitory control, the ability to stop or prevent an action, is of relevance to disorders marked by increased disinhibition and impulsivity, including some facets of psychopathy. Because aspects of cognitive control (including inhibitory control) and emotion are theorized to compete for processing resources, emotional conditions may exacerbate aggressive, impulsive, and potentially harmful behaviors. The present study examined relationships between specific facets of psychopathy and inhibitory control in the context of positive, negative, and neutral emotional stimuli in a community sample using event-related potentials during an emotional-linguistic Go/No-Go task. Results indicated distinct cognition-emotion interactions for each facet of psychopathy. High scorers on the interpersonal facet exhibited decreased inhibitory processing in the presence of emotional stimuli, and decreased emotional processing in the presence of inhibitory demands, suggesting reciprocal interference between cognition and emotion. Higher scores on the callous affect facet were associated with lower emotion and inhibition processing, except when stimuli were most engaging (emotional No-Go trials). Higher lifestyle facet scores related to reciprocal facilitation between inhibition and emotion processing. Finally, higher scores on the antisocial facet were associated with poorer behavioral inhibition overall. Results provide novel evidence for interactions between affective processing and cognitive control among individuals high on distinct psychopathic traits.

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Neural correlates of the implicit association test: evidence for semantic and emotional processing

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsq065 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 468-476 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

John K. Williams ◽

Jason R. Themanson

Keyword(s):

Implicit Association Test ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Association Test ◽

Implicit Association

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

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185.63.2.107 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 63 (2) ◽

pp. 107-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

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.

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

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1026//1618-3169.49.3.171 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 171-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

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.

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

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1026//0949-3946.48.2.123 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 123-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

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.

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

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027//1618-3169.50.1.33 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 33-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

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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Does the Name-Race Implicit Association Test Measure Racial Prejudice?

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000093 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 58 (4) ◽

pp. 271-277 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Don van Ravenzwaaij ◽

Han L. J. van der Maas ◽

Eric-Jan Wagenmakers

Keyword(s):

Diffusion Model ◽

Implicit Association Test ◽

Alternative Explanation ◽

Group Membership ◽

Racial Prejudice ◽

Decision Time ◽

Association Test ◽

Implicit Association ◽

Model Decomposition ◽

Test Measure

Research using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has shown that names labeled as Caucasian elicit more positive associations than names labeled as non-Caucasian. One interpretation of this result is that the IAT measures latent racial prejudice. An alternative explanation is that the result is due to differences in in-group/out-group membership. In this study, we conducted three different IATs: one with same-race Dutch names versus racially charged Moroccan names; one with same-race Dutch names versus racially neutral Finnish names; and one with Moroccan names versus Finnish names. Results showed equivalent effects for the Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Finnish IATs, but no effect for the Finnish-Moroccan IAT. This suggests that the name-race IAT-effect is not due to racial prejudice. A diffusion model decomposition indicated that the IAT-effects were caused by changes in speed of information accumulation, response conservativeness, and non-decision time.

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