Strong claims and weak evidence: Reassessing the predictive validity of the IAT.

The authors reanalyzed data from 2 influential studies—A. R. McConnell and J. M. Leibold (see record 2001-11532-008) and J. C. Ziegert and P. J. Hanges (see record 2005-05102-011)—that explore links between implicit bias and discriminatory behavior and that have been invoked to support strong claims about the predictive validity of the Implicit Association Test. In both of these studies, the inclusion of race Implicit Association Test scores in regression models reduced prediction errors by only tiny amounts, and Implicit Association Test scores did not permit prediction of individual-level behaviors. Furthermore, the results were not robust when the impact of rater reliability, statistical specifications, and/or outliers were taken into account, and reanalysis of A. R. McConnell & J. M. Leibold (2001) revealed a pattern of behavior consistent with a pro-Black behavioral bias, rather than the anti-Black bias suggested in the original study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strong rebuttal for weak criticisms: Reply to Blanton et al. (2009).

We respond to H. Blanton et al.’s (See record 2009-06703-001) critique of J. C. Ziegert & P. J. Hanges (see record 2005-05102-011) and illustrate that their criticisms regarding our study are based on very weak evidence. In this rebuttal, we highlight the appropriateness of our manipulation as well as present reanalyses that illustrate the predictive validity of the Implicit Association Test. In particular, we illustrate that the Implicit Association Test is related to discriminatory behavior (a) after one eliminates potential outliers using appropriate multivariate methods, (b) across conditions after one controls for the manipulation, (c) when one just examines Black applicants, and (d) after one controls for explicit attitudes. Thus, in this rebuttal, we not only reaffirm the original findings of J. C. Ziegert and P. J. Hanges (2005) but we extend them to illustrate the broader contexts in which the Implicit Association Test is related to discriminatory behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transparency should trump trust: Rejoinder to McConnell and Leibold (2009) and Ziegert and Hanges (2009).

The rebuttals offered by the authors whose data we reanalyzed (see record 2009-06703-001)—A. R. McConnell & J. M. Leibold (see record 2001-11532-008); J. C. Ziegert & P. J. Hanges (see record 2005-05102-011)—address secondary issues that do not alter our primary message: The evidence for the predictive validity of the race Implicit Association Test is too fragile to support the strong claims that have been made about the pervasiveness of prejudice and the linkages between Implicit Association Test scores and discriminatory behavior. Greater caution in both the legal and scientific communities is warranted. Most importantly, scientific research on implicit bias needs greater transparency and willingness to open raw data to critical scrutiny, not greater trust and deference among researchers. (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)     

The relationship between level of training, implicit bias, and multicultural competency among counselor trainees.

The assessment of attitudes toward diversity among counselor trainees has relied on self-report measures. Implicit measures might offer a valuable addition to self-report because they assess biased attitudes indirectly, do not rely on conscious introspection, and often demonstrate bias that contradicts self-reported attitudes. A sample (N = 105) of counselor trainees was assessed with measures of implicit bias toward African Americans and lesbians and gay men and a measure of self-reported multicultural competency. Implicit bias was present among counselor trainees despite high self-reported multicultural competency. In addition, self-reported multicultural competency varied by training level, but implicit bias did not. The results suggest that implicit bias can add to the understanding, assessment, and training of multicultural counselor competency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy.

Three studies investigated implicit biases, and their modifiability, against overweight persons. In Study 1 (N=144), the authors demonstrated strong implicit anti-fat attitudes and stereotypes using the Implicit Association Test, despite no explicit anti-fat bias. When participants were informed that obesity is caused predominantly by overeating and lack of exercise, higher implicit bias relative to controls was produced; informing participants that obesity is mainly due to genetic factors did not result in lower bias. In Studies 2A (N=90) and 2B (N=63), participants read stories of discrimination against obese persons to evoke empathy. This did not lead to lower bias compared with controls but did produce diminished implicit bias among overweight participants, suggesting an in-group bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

(Close) distance makes the heart grow fonder: Improving implicit racial attitudes and interracial interactions through approach behaviors.

In 4 studies, the authors examined the effect of approaching Blacks on implicit racial attitudes and immediacy behaviors. In Studies 1-3, participants were trained to pull a joystick toward themselves or to push it away from themselves when presented with photographs of Blacks, Whites, or Asians before completing an Implicit Association Test to measure racial bias. In Study 4, the effect of this training procedure on nonverbal behavior in an interracial contact situation was investigated. Results from the studies demonstrated that approaching Blacks decreased participants' implicit racial prejudice and increased immediacy when interacting with a Black confederate. The implications of these findings for current theories on approach, avoidance, and intergroup relations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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 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)     

Implicit Self-Attitudes Predict Spontaneous Affect in Daily Life.

In 2 studies, the authors examined the degree to which implicit self-attitudes predicted people's spontaneous affective experiences in daily life. Across both studies, implicit attitudes toward the self (as measured by Implicit Association Tests) strongly predicted negative feeling states (as measured by computerized experience-sampling procedures), suggesting that implicit self-attitudes may be linked to changes in undifferentiated negative affect. Explicit attitudes toward the self generally did not account for these relations. Findings extend understanding of the factors that contribute to experienced affect and are the first to empirically link implicit self-attitudes with phenomenological affective experience in real-life settings over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit associations as the seeds of intergroup bias: How easily do they take root?

Three experiments provided evidence that intergroup bias occurs automatically under minimal conditions, using the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998). In Experiment 1, participants more readily paired in-group names with pleasant words and out-group names with unpleasant words, even when they were experienced only with the in-group and had no preconceptions about the out-group. Participants in Experiment 2 likewise showed an automatic bias favoring the in-group, even when in-group/out-group exemplars were completely unfamiliar and identifiable only with the use of a heuristic. In Experiment 3, participants displayed a pro-in-group IAT bias following a minimal group manipulation. Taken together, the results demonstrate the ease with which intergroup bias emerges even in unlikely conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theoretical claims necessitate basic research: Reply to Gawronski, Lebel, Peters, and Banse (2009) and Nosek and Greenwald (2009).

The authors of this reply article note that B. Gawronski, E. P. LeBel, K. R. Peters, and R. Banse (see record 2009-05290-002) (a) expressed agreement in their comment with the analysis put forward in the target article (J. De Houwer, S. Teige-Mocigemba, A. Spruyt, & A. Moors) (see record 2009-05290-001) and (b) pointed to a further implication for the way in which the implicitness of a measure should be examined. The current authors note that B. A. Nosek and A. G. Greenwald (see record 2009-05290-003), on the other hand, raised questions in their comment about the definition of the concept “implicit” in the target article, arguing for a fundamentally different approach to measurement that emphasizes not theoretical understanding but usefulness for predicting behavior. In this reply, the current authors respond to these comments and argue that when theoretical claims are made about measures, these claims should be backed up with appropriate evidence. In the absence of basic research, measures and their relation to behavior can only be described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The drink remains the same: Implicit positive associations in high but not moderate or non-caffeine users.

Research has demonstrated that high, but not low caffeine users exhibit an attentional bias to caffeine related stimuli. Separately, the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) has been used to investigate the valence of implicit cognitions to drugs with some contradictory findings, though no work has addressed this issue with respect to caffeine. Here, we examined whether attentional bias would be found in high and moderate caffeine users using a pictorial version of the dot-probe task. A second aim was to explore differences in implicit cognitions between users and non-users. Fifteen high, moderate and non-caffeine users completed a picture dot-probe, IAT, and mood questionnaire following overnight caffeine deprivation. In the IAT, results demonstrated positive associations to caffeine related words for high but not moderate or non-users. Lower ratings for calmness were evident in both groups of caffeine compared to non-users. Dot-probe findings revealed an attentional bias among moderate caffeine users and non-users but not heavy users. The observed positive implicit associations to caffeine suggest that drug acceptability is the key in such perceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

(Why) do I think what you think? Epistemic social tuning and implicit prejudice.

This research examines whether people who experience epistemic motivation (i.e., a desire to acquire knowledge) came to have implicit attitudes consistent with the apparent beliefs of another person. People had lower implicit prejudice when they experienced epistemic motivation and interacted with a person who ostensibly held egalitarian beliefs (Experiments 1 and 2). Implicit prejudice was not affected when people did not experience epistemic motivation. Further evidence shows that this tuning of implicit attitudes occurs when beliefs are endorsed by another person, but not when they are brought to mind via means that do not imply that person's endorsement (Experiment 3). Results suggest that implicit attitudes of epistemically motivated people tune to the apparent beliefs of others to achieve shared reality. (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)     

Using the implicit association test to measure age differences in implicit social cognitions.

Two studies investigated the use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) to study age differences in implicit social cognitions. Study 1 collected [AT (implicit) and explicit (self-report) measures of age attitudes, age identity, and self-esteem from young, young-old, and old-old participants. Study 2 collected IAT and explicit measures of attitudes toward flowers versus insects from young and old participants. Results show that the IAT provided theoretically meaningful insights into age differences in social cognitions that the explicit measures did not, supporting the value of the IAT in aging research. Results also illustrate that age-related slowing must be considered in analysis and interpretation of IAT measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit prejudice and stereotyping: How automatic are they? Introduction to the special section.

This special issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition addresses issues of the measurement and the malleability of implicit prejudice and stereotypes. The findings raise fundamental questions about the assumptions underlying the assessment of implicit prejudice, particularly with regard to the widely used Implicit Association Test (A. Greenwald, D. McGhee, & J. Schwartz, 1998) and the assumption of extant models of prejudice and stereotyping that implicit biases are automatically and invariantly activated when perceivers come in contact with members of stigmatized groups. Several of the articles show that contextual manipulations produce reductions in implicit manifestations of prejudice and stereotyping. The articles in this issue, in challenging conventional wisdom, are thought provoking and should be generative in the field's ongoing efforts to understand the role of implicit (and explicit) processes involved in prejudice and stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept.

This theoretical integration of social psychology's main cognitive and affective constructs was shaped by 3 influences: (a) recent widespread interest in automatic and implicit cognition, (b) development of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A. G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee, & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998), and (c) social psychology's consistency theories of the 1950s, especially F. Heider's (1958) balance theory. The balanced identity design is introduced as a method to test correlational predictions of the theory. Data obtained with this method revealed that predicted consistency patterns were strongly apparent in the data for implicit (IAT) measures but not in those for parallel explicit (self-report) measures, Two additional not-yet-tested predictions of the theory are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 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)     

(Part of) the case for a pragmatic approach to validity: Comment on De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba, Spruyt, and Moors (2009).

In their review of validity of the Implicit Association Test and affective priming, J. De Houwer, S. Teige-Mocigemba, A. Spruyt, and A. Moors (see record 2009-05290-001) identified validity with establishment of “basic theoretical understanding” of the measures. It is agreed that theoretical understanding has an important role in making measures more valid and useful. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that scientific advancement will more often be well served by prioritizing pragmatic goals of establishing the predictive validity of the measures and their adequate sensitivity to individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)