Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test.
An implicit association test (IAT) measures differential association of 2 target concepts with an attribute. The 2 concepts appear in a 2-choice task (2-choice task (e.g., flower vs. insect names), and the attribute in a 2nd task (e.g., pleasant vs. unpleasant words for an evaluation attribute). When instructions oblige highly associated categories (e.g., flower + pleasant) to share a response key, performance is faster than when less associated categories (e.g., insect & pleasant) share a key. This performance difference implicitly measures differential association of the 2 concepts with the attribute. In 3 experiments, the IAT was sensitive to (a) near-universal evaluative differences (e.g., flower vs. insect), (b) expected individual differences in evaluative associations (Japanese + pleasant vs. Korean + pleasant for Japanese vs. Korean subjects), and (c) consciously disavowed evaluative differences (Black + pleasant vs. White + pleasant for self-described unprejudiced White subjects).
Greenwald
A G
AG
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-1525, USA. agg@washington.edu
McGhee
D E
DE
Schwartz
J L
JL
D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D013240:Stereotyping; D014861:Washington; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D014936:Word Association Tests