title: Assessing acute stress with the Implicit Association Test.
abstract: Assessments of acute stress using self-report questionnaires can be biased by various factors, including social desirability. The present study used a bias-free method, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), to assess stress. Unlike a previous study (Schmukle & Egloff, 2004) in which acute stress was not detected with the IAT, this study manipulated stress by generating test anxiety and threatening self-esteem. The results revealed that the IAT effect was greater in the high-stress group than in the low-stress group. Participants in the high-stress group associated their concept of self with the concept of anxiety more strongly than did those in the low-stress group. This result suggests that the IAT is a sensitive measure for detecting group differences in acute stress.
authors: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan. jun.kawahara@aist.go.jp
authors: Hirotsune
authors: H
authors: Sato
authors: Jun-ichiro
authors: J
authors: Kawahara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D013732:Test Anxiety Scale / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014936:Word Association Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*