Chapter 1. Implicit Association Test

1.1 Introduction

Cognitive Tool Kit
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Implicit Association Test

Consciously, you might report that you are not, and even can not consciously be, prejudiced. Unconsciously, you might harbor a prejudice perhaps learned as a young child or inculcated by media or other sources.

In this experiment, your unconscious attitude toward a topic is assessed (Greenwald et al., 1998; Greenwald & Farnham, 2000). It is a replication of a study that suggests implicit or unconscious information affects our behavioral responses in some surprising ways. The clever trick in this experiment is never to directly address the potentially prejudiced attitude.

On some trials, you’ll be presented with either an African- American or Caucasian-American face. With the left hand, you indicate if the face is African-American and with your right hand, you indicate if the face is Caucasian-American. On other trials, you’ll be presented with a word like “JOY” and you have to indicate if it is a positive word (by using your left hand) or a negative word (by using your right hand). You never indicate if the face is positive or negative, but the left hand will be used to respond to both the African-American faces and positive words. Finally, there will be some trials in which you use the same hand for the African-American faces and the negative words. The question is what happens to your reaction time between the trials in which the same hand is used to respond to both African-American faces and negative words and the trials in which the same hand is used to respond to both African-American faces and positive words? Does just having the same hand to respond to two ideas that are consistent with the prejudicial attitude allow you to respond more quickly than when the pairing is inconsistent with the prejudicial attitude?

References:

Greenwald, A. G., & Farnham, S. D. (2000). Using the implicit association test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 1022-1038.

Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464-1480.

1.2 Experiment Setup

Figure 1.1

1.3 Instructions

Instructions

You will need to press the space bar to begin the experiment. When the trials begin, a stimulus will be presented in the center and your job is to indicate in which category it belongs. The category names will be indicated to the left and right of the stimulus. See below for a diagram of how the screen will appear.

You will use the following keys to make your responses.

Key What Response Means
Z Category Left
/ Category Right

The experiment will take place in five blocks of trials. In some of the blocks, the item will be a word such as “LIBERTY.” To one side will be the word “GOOD” and to the other side the word “BAD.” In other blocks, the stimulus will be a face, either African-American or Caucasian-American. To one side will be the word “AFRICAN-AMERICAN” and to the other side the word “CAUCASIAN-AMERICAN”. In some blocks, the stimulus might be either a word or a face and both sets of categories will appear. For the words, select either “GOOD” or “BAD” and for the faces, select either “AFRICAN-AMERICAN” or “CAUCASIAN-AMERICAN”. The screen might look as follows:

1.4 Experiment

Begin Experiment

Figure 1.4

1.5 Results

Results

Figure 1.5

1.6 Quiz

Quiz

Question 1.1

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1
Correct.
Incorrect.
When words were presented, regardless of the block type, you had to respond Good/Bad.

Question 1.2

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1
Correct.
Incorrect.
When a face was presented, you were instructed to indicate only if the face was African-American/Caucasian-American.

Question 1.3

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1
Correct.
Incorrect.
The dependent variable is the value that the experimenter collects to indicate how you performed in the experiment. In this case, the most important variable we measured was how fast you responded to the faces displayed. So, the correct answer is reaction time.

Question 1.4

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Correct.
Incorrect.
The independent variable is the value that is changed by the experimenter. The independent variable is most often seen on the x-axis of the graph. In this case, the pairing of the response to the word and face was the independent variable.

Question 1.5

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Correct.
Incorrect.
Implicit cognitive processes are processes of which we are unaware. In this sense, implicit attitudes compare with explicit attitudes as unconscious processing compares with conscious processing.