Chapter 1. Implicit Association Test

1.1 Introduction

Cognitive Tool Kit
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Implicit Association Test

How fast are you at categorizing faces? How fast are you at categorizing names? In this experiment, through a carefully constructed series of trials, we will compare your ability to categorize faces and words. You are to respond as accurately and quickly as possible.

1.2 Experiment Setup

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 on the left
/ category on the 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

1.5 Results

Results

1.6 Debriefing

Debriefing

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

In this experiment, your implicit attitude toward a topic was 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 to never directly ask about or address the potentially prejudiced attitude.

On some trials, you were presented with a face, for example, either an African- American or Caucasian-American face. You might be instructed to indicate with your left hand if the face is African-American, and with your right hand you were to indicate if the face is Caucasian-American. On other trials, you were presented with a word such as “joy” and you were asked to indicate if it is a positive word (by using your left hand) or a negative word (by using your right hand). You never were asked if the face was positive or negative, but the left hand, in the example given, was used to respond to both the African-American faces and positive words. Such a pairing is opposite of our normal stereotypes. Finally, there will be some trials in which you use the same hand for the African-American faces and the negative words. This pairing matches our normal stereotypes. 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? What has been observed is that when the pairing matches the expected stereotypes, we respond faster than if the pairing is opposite the standard stereotypes. Remember, you were never asked to respond to whether the face is good or bad, it is only that the same hand might be used for one facial category and words that are good or bad. No conscious responded was requested. As a result, it is assumed that these response differences are the result of implicit or unconscious attitudes.

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.

Rudman, L. A. (2004). Sources of implicit attitudes. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(2), 79-82.

1.7 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 or 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 or 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 quickly 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.