The implicit personality theory is the relationships that we hold among particular traits; we assume that when an individual has a certain trait that they also have a network of other traits (Asch, 1946). There are also implicit personality theories about groups. For example, entity theorists, or people who view groups as having particular fixed traits, are more likely to use stereotypes than incremental theorists, or people who view groups as having less fixed traits (Levy et al., 1998). The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was designed to study how the unconscious mind works and how it diverges from the conscious mind. Its goal is to determine the private attitudes or preferences that we are hesitant to share and/or unconscious of. The way that the IAT achieves this is by requiring participants to rapidly respond to matching tasks. The more that two concepts are associated, the easier and faster that it should be to match them. Generally, it is easier to sort a liked concept with a positive word and a disliked concept with a negative word.
In their study on the IAT, Nosek, Greenwald, and Banaji (2005) explained the five steps included in the test. First, two topic categories will appear on opposite sides of the screen (i.e., Young and Old). The participant must then sort the pictures that appear on the screen as fast as they can into these categories by pressing the key that corresponds to the category in which it belongs. When taking the IAT online, the key the “e” key corresponds with one category and the “i” with the other. Second, the user must sort items into two polar opposite attribution categories (i.e., happy, friendly for good and horrible, angry for bad). Third, the first two steps are combined. That is, a topic category and attribution category are paired and the participant is asked to sort pictures and items (i.e., a picture of a white male or the word angry for the category White/Bad). Fourth and similar to the first step, participant must again sort pictures into their respected topic categories. However, the key that corresponds to the category is switched. Finally, the third step is repeated with the topic category and attribution category pairs switched (i.e., a picture of a white male or the word happy for the category White/Good).
The first test that I chose to take was the Young-Old IAT. The results suggest that I have a slight automatic preference for old compared to young, which corresponds with 4% of the web respondents. I feel that this result is consistent with my conscious beliefs and attitudes, and that it may be as a result of the environment of my upbringing. Newcomb (1934) found in his study of political attitudes of women who came from conservative backgrounds and encountered more liberal views in college, that attitudes are often formed as a result of our environment. The women in his study gradually became more liberal as they progressed through school. I have always been comfortable around older people and have enjoyed spending time with them. In high school, a couple of my friends and I would play music for a senior citizen center and often play games of chicken foot or bingo with them. I also was very close to my grandparents before they died, particularly my grandfather who would pick me up every day after school during my sophomore and junior year of high school (I had early release and no car). Perhaps if I was immersed in an atmosphere where older people were seen as bad and frustrating my attitude would begin to change.
I decided to take the Young-Old IAT again to see if I could change my results and was able to change them to a strong automatic preference for young compared to old. It did take me longer to sort the words and pictures into categories, but I just kept repeating in my head “old bad, old bad, old bad” whenever a picture of an older person was presented. This resembles the idea that attitudes can be formed through the process of learning. Staats and Staats (1958) presented college students with pairs of a nation’s name and either very positive or negative word. They found that when repeatedly presented with these pairs, the students later evaluated the nations more positively or negatively consistent with the words that were attributed to the nation’s name. Although I was able to change my result, I do not think that this ability discredits the IAT. If a person knows how the test works and tries hard enough then they can get the result that they desire; however, if a person takes the test with an open mind they may be able to learn more about their unconscious attitudes.
The second test that I chose to take was the Family-Career IAT. My responses suggested a moderate association of male with career and female with family. Although I expected to have an association of male with career and female with family, I was somewhat surprised about the strength of that association. It took some thought about why I might make this association, but I believe that it once again is a result of my upbringing. My parents have always followed the standard view in the Bible that the man is the head of the household. In addition, my family moved around a lot and this was always due to my father’s career. Moreover, his military career resulted in his absence for long periods of time during my childhood in which my mother was the primary caretaker. Receiving the result on this test did make me think more about prejudices and stereotypes. I began to explore my feelings toward women having a career because it seemed inconsistent with my behavior of going to college so that I could eventually have a career. Several reasons came to mind why I might make the association but not hold a prejudice. First, my father is the head of the house but my parents have always worked together as a team. My father always consults my mother whenever decisions are to be made, and they have always had a mutual respect for each other. Additionally, both of my parents have careers and have always insisted that I receive a good education so that I am able to have a career. There was never a question in our house of whether or not I went to college because my parents wanted me to be able to take care of myself. Although my family would always be there to support me, I was brought up to be prepared for any circumstance and to not assume that I would always have someone else to depend on.
Taking the IAT to explore my unconscious stereotypes and associations was an interesting experience. I think that it helped me to learn more about myself and how experiences have shaped the attitudes that I have concerning different groups of people. It was especially interesting to examine the moderate association that I have with male career and female family. I chose to take the Young-Old and Family-Career IATs first because those were the areas that I felt the most comfortable learning about and sharing, and second because those were the areas that I felt that I knew the most about my attitudes. However, I do plan on taking additional tests, including the more controversial IATs, to further explore my unconscious beliefs.
Asch, S. E. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41, 258-290.
Levy, S. R., Stroessner, S. J., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Stereotype formation and endorsement: The role of implicit theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1421-1436.
Newcomb, T. M. (1943). Personality and social change: Attitude formation in a student community. Fort worth, TX: Dryden Press.
Nosek, B. A., Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (2005). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: II. Method variables and construct validity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 166-180.
Staats, A. W., & Staats, C. K. (1958). Attitudes established by classical conditioning. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 57, 37-40.
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