A metacognitive approach to "implicit" and "explicit" evaluations: Comment on Gawronski and Bodenhausen (2006).

Comments on the article by B. Gawronski and G. V. Bodenhausen (see record 2006-10465-003). A metacognitive model (MCM) is presented to describe how automatic (implicit) and deliberative (explicit) measures of attitudes respond to change attempts. The model assumes that contemporary implicit measures tap quick evaluative associations, whereas explicit measures also consider the perceived validity of these associations (and other factors). Change in explicit measures is greater than implicit measures when new evaluative associations are formed and old associations are rejected. Implicit measure change is greater than explicit when newly formed evaluative associations are rejected. When implicit and explicit evaluations conflict, implicit ambivalence can occur. The authors relate the MCM to the associative-propositional evaluation model and explain how the MCM builds on the attitude strength assumptions of the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit and explicit attitudes predict smoking cessation: Moderating effects of experienced failure to control smoking and plans to quit.

The current study tested implicit and explicit attitudes as prospective predictors of smoking cessation in a Midwestern community sample of smokers. Results showed that the effects of attitudes significantly varied with levels of experienced failure to control smoking and plans to quit. Explicit attitudes significantly predicted later cessation among those with low (but not high or average) levels of experienced failure to control smoking. Conversely, however, implicit attitudes significantly predicted later cessation among those with high levels of experienced failure to control smoking, but only if they had a plan to quit. Because smoking cessation involves both controlled and automatic processes, interventions may need to consider attitude change interventions that focus on both implicit and explicit attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes and the Implicit Association Test.

Three studies examined the relationship between the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) and explicit attitudes. In the 1st and all subsequent studies, the lack of any correlation between the IAT and explicitly measured attitudes supports the view that the IAT is independent from explicit attitudes. Study 2 examined the relationships among the IAT, explicit attitudes, and behavior and found that the explicit attitudes predicted behavior but the IAT did not. Finally, in Study 3 it was found that the IAT was affected by exposing participants to new associations between attitude objects, whereas the explicit attitudes remained unchanged. Taken together, these results support an environmental association interpretation of the IAT in which IAT scores reflect the associations a person has been exposed to in his or her environment rather than the extent to which the person endorses those evaluative associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explicit and implicit memory for rotating objects.

Although both the object and the observer often move in natural environments, the effect of motion on visual object recognition has not been well documented. The authors examined the effect of a reversal in the direction of rotation on both explicit and implicit memory for novel, 3-dimensional objects. Participants viewed a series of continuously rotating objects and later made either an old-new recognition judgment or a symmetric-asymmetric decision. For both tasks, memory for rotating objects was impaired when the direction of rotation was reversed at test. These results demonstrate that dynamic information can play a role in visual object recognition and suggest that object representations can encode spatiotemporal information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the automatic evaluation of end-states.

The author's research examined automatically activated attitudes toward desired end-states. Across 4 studies, participants' automatic attitudes toward goals (i.e., thinness, egalitarianism) significantly predicted their goal pursuit, including behaviors, intentions, and judgments. Such attitudes predicted behavior and judgments that are difficult to monitor and control (i.e., restrained eating, subtle prejudice), but not judgments that are easy to monitor and control (i.e., blatant prejudice). Automatic attitudes toward goals also possessed unique predictive validity compared with explicit measures of motivation and with automatic attitudes toward more physical, "graspable" objects. The findings are discussed with regard to the predictive validity of automatic attitudes, the use of automatic attitudes toward goals as an implicit measure of motivation, and the role of automatic evaluative processes in goal-pursuit and self-regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using aversive images to enhance healthy food choices and implicit attitudes: An experimental test of evaluative conditioning.

Objective: To examine the effect of communicating images of energy-dense snack foods paired with aversive images of the potential health consequences of unhealthy eating, on implicit and explicit attitudes and food choice behavior. Design: Participants were randomly allocated to either an evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure that paired images of snack foods with images of potential adverse health consequences or a control condition that featured images of snack foods alone. Main Outcome Measures: Implicit attitudes were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Explicit attitudes and food choice behavior were assessed post-intervention. Results: The conditioning intervention made implicit attitudes toward energy-dense snacks more negative, with this effect greatest in those with relatively more favorable implicit attitudes toward these snacks at baseline. Participants in the conditioning intervention were more likely to choose fruit rather than snacks in a behavioral choice task, a relationship mediated by changes in implicit attitudes. Conclusion: Presenting aversive images of potential health consequences with those of specific foodstuffs can change implicit attitudes, which impacts on subsequent food choice behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intuition and the correspondence between implicit and explicit self-esteem.

Four studies tested whether the perceived validity of intuition increases the correspondence between implicit and explicit self-esteem. Studies 1 and 2 found, with 2 different measures of implicit self-esteem, that people who chronically view their intuition as valid have more consistent implicit and explicit self-esteem. In contrast, people with relatively low faith in their intuition had a negative relation between implicit and explicit self-esteem, suggesting that they may overcorrect their explicit self-views for the potential bias posed by implicit self-esteem. In Studies 3 and 4, participants who were induced to view their intuition as valid reported explicit self-views (self-evaluations made under time pressure, or state self-esteem) that were more consistent with their implicit self-esteem. These results suggest that people experience implicit self-esteem as intuitive evaluations. The correspondence between implicit and explicit self-esteem among individuals who view their intuition as valid may suggest that these individuals incorporate implicit self-esteem into their explicit self-views. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit and explicit preferences for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner: A double dissociation in predictive validity.

Five studies develop and examine the predictive validity of an implicit measure of the preference for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner. Three hypotheses were generally supported. First, 2 variants of the go/no-go association task revealed that participants, on average, demonstrate an implicit preference (i.e., a positive spontaneous affective reaction) for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner. Second, these implicit measures were not redundant with a traditional explicit measure: The correlation between these constructs was .00 on average, and the implicit measures revealed no reliable sex differences, unlike the explicit measure. Third, explicit and implicit measures exhibited a double dissociation in predictive validity. Specifically, explicit preferences predicted the extent to which attractiveness was associated with participants' romantic interest in opposite-sex photographs but not their romantic interest in real-life opposite-sex speed-daters or confederates. Implicit preferences showed the opposite pattern. This research extends prior work on implicit processes in romantic relationships and offers the first demonstration that any measure of a preference for a particular characteristic in a romantic partner (an implicit measure of physical attractiveness, in this case) predicts individuals' evaluation of live potential romantic partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit and explicit attitudes toward high-fat foods in obesity.

This study examined implicit and explicit attitudes toward high-fat foods in obese (n = 30) and normal-weight controls (n = 31). The Implicit Association Test (A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) was used to measure the differential association of the 2 target categories--high-fat vs. low-fat food words--with an attribute dimension (positive vs. negative). Results suggest that obese people are characterized by a significantly stronger implicit negative attitude toward high-fat foods than are normal-weight controls. This implicit negative attitude is contradictory to their preferences and behavior: Several studies indicate that obese people prefer and consume high-fat foods. Apparently, obese people like the taste of high-fat foods but not the fat content itself, not only on the explicit but also on the implicit level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychometric intelligence dissociates implicit and explicit learning.

The hypothesis that performance on implicit learning tasks is unrelated to psychometric intelligence was examined in a sample of 605 German pupils. Performance in artificial grammar learning, process control, and serial learning did not correlate with various measures of intelligence when participants were given standard implicit instructions. Under an explicit rule discovery instruction, however, a significant relationship between performance on the learning tasks and intelligence appeared. This finding provides support for Reber's hypothesis that implicit learning, in contrast to explicit learning, is independent of intelligence, and confirms thereby the distinction between the 2 modes of learning. However, because there were virtually no correlations among the 3 learning tasks, the assumption of a unitary ability of implicit learning was not supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding implicit and explicit attitude change: A systems of reasoning analysis.

There is considerable controversy about how to conceptualize implicit and explicit attitudes, reflecting substantial speculation about the mechanisms involved in implicit and explicit attitude formation and change. To investigate this issue, the current work examines the processes by which new attitudes are formed and changed and how these attitudes predict behavior. Five experiments support a systems of reasoning approach to implicit and explicit attitude change. Specifically, explicit attitudes were shaped in a manner consistent with fast-changing processes, were affected by explicit processing goals, and uniquely predicted more deliberate behavioral intentions. Conversely, implicit attitudes reflected an associative system characterized by a slower process of repeated pairings between an attitude object and related evaluations, were unaffected by explicit processing goals, uniquely predicted spontaneous behaviors, and were exclusively affected by associative information about the attitude object that was not available for higher order cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit ambivalence from attitude change: An exploration of the PAST model.

Traditional models of attitude change have assumed that when people appear to have changed their attitudes in response to new information, their old attitudes disappear and no longer have any impact. The present research suggests that when attitudes change, the old attitude can remain in memory and influence subsequent behavior. Four experiments are reported in which initial attitudes were created and then changed (or not) with new information. In each study, the authors demonstrate that when people undergo attitude change, their old and new attitudes can interact to produce evaluative responses consistent with a state of implicit ambivalence. In Study 1, individuals whose attitudes changed were more neutral on a measure of automatic evaluation. In Study 2, attitude change led people to show less confidence on an implicit but not an explicit measure. In Studies 3 and 4, people whose attitudes changed engaged in greater processing of attitude-relevant information than did individuals whose attitudes were not changed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The regulation of explicit and implicit race bias: The role of motivations to respond without prejudice.

Three studies examined the moderating role of motivations to respond without prejudice (e.g., internal and external) in expressions of explicit and implicit race bias. In all studies, participants reported their explicit attitudes toward Blacks. Implicit measures consisted of a sequential priming task (Study 1) and the Implicit Association Test (Studies 2 and 3). Study 3 used a cognitive busyness manipulation to preclude effects of controlled processing on implicit responses. In each study, explicit race bias was moderated by internal motivation to respond without prejudice, whereas implicit race bias was moderated by the interaction of internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice. Specifically, high internal, low external participants exhibited lower levels of implicit race bias than did all other participants. Implications for the development of effective self-regulation of race bias are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contrast effects in priming paradigms: Implications for theory and research on implicit attitudes.

Contrast effects have been studied in dozens of experimental paradigms, including the measurement of attitudes in the social psychological literature. However, nearly all of this work has been conducted using explicit reports. In the present research the authors employed a variety of different types of priming tasks in order to gain insight into the nature of contrast effects and the role that automatic processes might play in their emergence. They report 6 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2 the replicability and robustness of automatized contrast effects across 2 types of implicit tasks are established. Experiments 3–6 were conducted in order to further understand the nature of these effects and whether they are best understood in terms of spreading activation vs. response-based models of priming. In the course of accounting for their findings, the authors propose and validate a response-mapping framework, which provides insight into some longstanding ambiguities in the priming literature. Implications for theories of contrast and models of evaluative priming are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Unlearning" automatic biases: The malleability of implicit prejudice and stereotypes.

The present research suggests that automatic and controlled intergroup biases can be modified through diversity education. In 2 experiments, students enrolled in a prejudice and conflict seminar showed significantly reduced implicit and explicit anti-Black biases, compared with control students. The authors explored correlates of prejudice and stereotype reduction. In each experiment, seminar students' implicit and explicit change scores positively covaried with factors suggestive of affective and cognitive processes, respectively. The findings show the malleability of implicit prejudice and stereotypes and suggest that these may effectively be changed through affective processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Single Category Implicit Association Test as a measure of implicit social cognition.

The Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) is a modification of the Implicit Association Test that measures the strength of evaluative associations with a single attitude object. Across 3 different attitude domains--soda brand preferences, self-esteem, and racial attitudes--the authors found evidence that the SC-IAT is internally consistent and makes unique contributions in the ability to understand implicit social cognition. In a 4th study, the authors investigated the susceptibility of the SC-IAT to faking or self-presentational concerns. Once participants with high error rates were removed, no significant self-presentation effect was observed. These results provide initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the SC-IAT as an individual difference measure of implicit social cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit self-esteem compensation: Automatic threat defense.

Four experiments demonstrated implicit self-esteem compensation (ISEC) in response to threats involving gender identity (Experiment 1), implicit racism (Experiment 2), and social rejection (Experiments 3-4). Under conditions in which people might be expected to suffer a blow to self-worth, they instead showed high scores on 2 implicit self-esteem measures. There was no comparable effect on explicit self-esteem. However, ISEC was eliminated following self-affirmation (Experiment 3). Furthermore, threat manipulations increased automatic intergroup bias, but ISEC mediated these relationships (Experiments 2-3). Thus, a process that serves as damage control for the self may have negative social consequences. Finally, pretest anxiety mediated the relationship between threat and ISEC (Experiment 3), whereas ISEC negatively predicted anxiety among high-threat participants (Experiment 4), suggesting that ISEC may function to regulate anxiety. The implications of these findings for automatic emotion regulation, intergroup bias, and implicit self-esteem measures are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unintended influences of perception and memory: Attention, awareness, and control.

There has been a great deal of recent interest in the finding of dissociations between performance on implicit or indirect and explicit or direct tests of memory. Implicit tests are said to primarily reflect automatic or unconscious uses of memory, whereas explicit tests primarily reflect strategic or consciously-controlled uses of memory. Rather than identify different processes with different tasks, as is done by use of the implicit/explicit distinction, we have developed a method for separating the within-task contributions of unconscious and consciously-controlled influences. Our general approach starts with the assumption that unconscious or automatic influences and consciously-controlled influences make independent contributions to performance. Several experiments were reported to show the utility of the process-dissociation procedures. Among the findings of those experiments is that conditions traditionally associated with automaticity do have differential effects on consciously-controlled and unconscious (automatic) influences, as measured by the process-dissociation procedure. Other experiments were used to illustrate potential advantages of the process-dissociation procedure over reliance on implicit tests as a means of investigating unconscious influences. Still other experiments were briefly described to show that the process-dissociation procedure can be extended to separate the contributions of consciously-controlled and unconscious influences in a wide variety of domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task demands on implicit memory for object-location associations.

Examined the effect of task demands and the nature of the object probed on implicit and explicit memories for object location associations, in 5 experiments. 111 undergraduates probed objects (letters or symbols), 1 at a time, in 1 of 9 locations in a rectangle. They located or named the object. Each object was probed in the same location across 10 trial blocks, and then all the objects changed locations. Decrease or increase in naming times across trials was noted to find out the presence of priming for associations. Results show that implicit and explicit memory were affected differently by task demands. Priming could be obtained when the task engaged, but did not overtax, attentional capacity. Explicit memory performance was best when the task did not require much attentional capacity. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are associative and propositional processes qualitatively distinct? Comment on Gawronski and Bodenhausen (2006).

The authors comment on B. Gawronski and G. V. Bodenhausen's (2006; see record 2006-10465-003) associative-propositional evaluation model of implicit and explicit attitudes by examining the claims that (a) truth value is attached to propositions but not to associations; (b) pattern activation is qualitatively different from syllogistic structure of arguments; and (c) Pavlovian conditioning may be propositional, whereas evaluative conditioning is not. They conclude that despite surface dissimilarities between implicit and explicit attitudes both may be mediated by the same underlying process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)