Let their Fingers do the Talking? Using the Implicit Association Test in Market Research

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiden P. Gregg ◽  
James Klymowsky ◽  
Dominic Owens ◽  
Alex Perryman

Self-report methodologies - such as surveys and interviews - elicit responses that are vulnerable to a number of standard biases. These biases include social desirability, self-deception and a lack of self-insight. However, indirect measures, such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT), offer a potential means of bypassing such biases. Here, we evaluate the scope for using the IAT in market research, drawing on recent empirical findings. We conclude that the IAT meets several desirable criteria: it yields consistent results, possesses predictive power, offers unique advantages, is relevant to commercial issues and poses no insuperable challenges to adoption.

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 459-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Horcajo ◽  
Víctor J. Rubio ◽  
David Aguado ◽  
José Manuel Hernández ◽  
M. Oliva Márquez

The present work analyses the predictive validity of measures provided by several available self–report and indirect measurement instruments to assess risk propensity (RP) and proposes a measurement instrument using the Implicit Association Test: the IAT of Risk Propensity Self–Concept (IAT–RPSC), an adaptation of the prior IAT–RP of Dislich et al. Study 1 analysed the relationship between IAT–RPSC scores and several RP self–report measures. Participants’ risk–taking behaviour in a natural setting was also assessed, analyzing the predictive validity of the IAT–RPSC scores on risk–taking behaviour compared with the self–report measures. Study 2 analysed the predictive validity of the IAT–RPSC scores in comparison with other indirect measures. Results of these studies showed that the IAT–RPSC scores exhibited good reliability and were positively correlated to several self–report and indirect measures, providing evidence for convergent validity. Most importantly, the IAT–RPSC scores predicted risk–taking behaviour in a natural setting with real consequences above and beyond all other self–report and indirect measures analysed. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology


2020 ◽  
pp. 174569162090408
Author(s):  
Benedek Kurdi ◽  
Kate A. Ratliff ◽  
William A. Cunningham

Much of human thought, feeling, and behavior unfolds automatically. Indirect measures of cognition capture such processes by observing responding under corresponding conditions (e.g., lack of intention or control). The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is one such measure. The IAT indexes the strength of association between categories such as “planes” and “trains” and attributes such as “fast” and “slow” by comparing response latencies across two sorting tasks (planes–fast/trains–slow vs. trains–fast/planes–slow). Relying on a reanalysis of multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) studies, Schimmack (this issue) argues that the IAT and direct measures of cognition, for example, Likert scales, can serve as indicators of the same latent construct, thereby purportedly undermining the validity of the IAT as a measure of individual differences in automatic cognition. Here we note the compatibility of Schimmack’s empirical findings with a range of existing theoretical perspectives and the importance of considering evidence beyond MTMM approaches to establishing construct validity. Depending on the nature of the study, different standards of validity may apply to each use of the IAT; however, the evidence presented by Schimmack is easily reconcilable with the potential of the IAT to serve as a valid measure of automatic processes in human cognition, including in individual-difference contexts.


Author(s):  
Stefan C. Schmukle ◽  
Boris Egloff

This article introduces two new indirect measures of anxiety that are based on the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST; De Houwer, 2003 ). The EAST differs from the more established Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998 ) in that participants' responses to different trials within one block of trials are compared rather than performance between two different blocks of trials. Two studies led to the following results: (a) Both extrinsic Simon tasks for assessing anxiety showed only moderate internal consistencies, (b) one of the two tasks showed at least some convergent validity with an IAT for assessing anxiety, and (c) both tasks were dissociated from self-reported anxiety. Implications for future adaptations of the EAST for the indirect assessment of personality dimensions are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Greenwald ◽  
Brian A. Nosek ◽  
Mahzarin R. Banaji

In reporting Implicit Association Test (IAT) results, researchers have most often used scoring conventions described in the first publication of the IAT (A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998). Demonstration IATs available on the Internet have produced large data sets that were used here to evaluate alternative scoring procedures. Candidate new algorithms were examined in terms of their (a) correlations with parallel self- report measures, (b) resistance to an artifact associated with speed of responding, (c) internal consistency, (d) sensitivity to known influences on IAT measures, and (e) resistance to known procedural influences. The best-performing measure incorporates data from the IAT’s practice trials, uses a metric that is calibrated by each respondent’s latency variability, and includes a latency penalty for errors. This new algorithm strongly outperforms the earlier (conventional) procedure.


2020 ◽  
pp. 014616722091663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Cvencek ◽  
Andrew N. Meltzoff ◽  
Craig D. Maddox ◽  
Brian A. Nosek ◽  
Laurie A. Rudman ◽  
...  

This meta-analysis evaluated theoretical predictions from balanced identity theory (BIT) and evaluated the validity of zero points of Implicit Association Test (IAT) and self-report measures used to test these predictions. Twenty-one researchers contributed individual subject data from 36 experiments (total N = 12,773) that used both explicit and implicit measures of the social–cognitive constructs. The meta-analysis confirmed predictions of BIT’s balance–congruity principle and simultaneously validated interpretation of the IAT’s zero point as indicating absence of preference between two attitude objects. Statistical power afforded by the sample size enabled the first confirmations of balance–congruity predictions with self-report measures. Beyond these empirical results, the meta-analysis introduced a within-study statistical test of the balance–congruity principle, finding that it had greater efficiency than the previous best method. The meta-analysis’s full data set has been publicly archived to enable further studies of interrelations among attitudes, stereotypes, and identities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio Costantini ◽  
Marco Perugini ◽  
Francesco Dentale ◽  
Claudio Barbaranelli ◽  
Guido Alessandri ◽  
...  

Abstract. Positive orientation (PO) is a basic predisposition that consists in a positive outlook toward oneself, one’s life, and one’s future, which is associated to many desirable outcomes connected to health and to the general quality of life. We performed a lexical study for identifying a set of markers of PO, developed an Implicit Association Test (the PO-IAT), and investigated its psychometric properties. The PO-IAT proved to be a reliable measure with a clear pattern of convergent validity, both with respect to self-report scales connected to PO and with respect to an indirect measure of self-esteem. A secondary aim of our studies was to validate a new brief adjective scale to assess PO, the POAS. Our results show that both the PO-IAT and the self-reported PO predict the frequency of depressive symptoms and of self-perceived intelligence.


2016 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Oriana Mosca ◽  
Francesco Dentale ◽  
Marco Lauriola ◽  
Luigi Leone

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.


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