Melanie C. Steffens

Is the Implicit Association Test Immune to Faking

One of the main advantages of measures of automatic cognition is supposed to be that they are less susceptible to faking than explicit tests. It is an empirical question, however, to what degree these measures can be faked, and the response might well differ for different measures. We tested whether the Implicit Association Test (IAT, Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) cannot be faked as easily as explicit measures of the same constructs. We chose the Big-Five dimensions conscientiousness and extraversion as the constructs of interest. The results show, indeed, that the IAT is much less susceptible to faking than questionnaire measures are, even if no selective faking of single dimensions of the questionnaire occurred. However, given limited experience, scores on the IAT, too, are susceptible to faking.

Attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in Germany

Attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men were assessed in a national representative sample of 2,006 self‐identified heterosexual women and men living in Germany. Replicating previous findings, younger people held more favorable attitudes than older people; women held more favorable attitudes than men; and men held more favorable attitudes toward female than male homosexuality, whereas women did not differentiate. However, women held more favorable attitudes toward homosexuals than toward bisexuals, whereas men did not differentiate. Knowing a homosexual person was an important predictor of attitudes, as was political party preference. Both same‐sex and opposite‐sex sexual attraction were substantially related with attitudes. Our findings support the notion that attitudes toward lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men are related but distinct constructs.

Predicting Spontaneous Big Five Behavior with Implicit Association Tests

According to theories brought forward recently, implicit measures based on reaction times, for instance Implicit Association Tests (IATs), should predict spontaneous behavior better than explicit measures. We applied five IATs to the measurement of the Big Five personality factors and tested whether the IATs predicted spontaneous behavior. The results show that, although implicit and explicit measures of personality dimensions were related at times, the correlations between them and with behavior suggest that these constructs should be differentiated. IATs predicted spontaneous behavior, but explicit measures did not. In contrast, explicit measures, but not IATs, were related to transparent self-ratings of behavior.

Implicit Association Test: separating transsituationally stable and variable components of attitudes toward gay men.

Implicit attitudes are conceived of as formed in childhood, suggesting extreme stability. At the same time, it has been shown that implicit attitudes are influenced by situational factors, suggesting variability by the moment. In the present article, using structural equation modeling, we decomposed implicit attitudes towards gay men into a person factor and a situational factor. The Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998), introduced as an instrument with which individual differences in implicit attitudes can be measured, was used. Measurement was repeated after one week (Experiment 1) or immediately (Experiment 2). Explicit attitudes towards gay men as assessed by way of questionnaires were positive and stable across situations. Implicit attitudes were relatively negative instead. Internal consistency of the implicit attitude assessment was exemplary. However, the within-situation consistency was accompanied by considerable unexplained between-situation variability. Consequently, it may not be adequate to interpret an individual implicit attitude measured at a given point in time as a person-related, trait-like factor.

A Multinomial Model to Assess Fluency and Recollection in a Sequence Learning Task

We suggest that well-formedness judgements in conjunction with L.L. Jacobys (1991) process dissociation procedure and an appropriate measurement model can be used to obtain measures of implicit and explicit sequence knowledge. We introduce a new measurement model designed specifically for the sequence learning task. The model assumes that sequence identification is based on recollection, perceptual or motor fluency, systematicity detection, and guessing. The model and the application of the process dissociation procedure were empirically evaluated using auditory event sequences. In Experiment 1, the parameter reflecting recollection was higher in an intentional than in an incidental learning condition. Experiment 2 showed that random sequences interspersed among the systematic sequences during the acquisition phase may change this pattern of results. A manipulation of processing fluency in Experiment 3 was reflected in the appropriate model parameter. In sum, the new measurement model and the application of the process dissociation procedure appear to be useful tools in sequence learning research.

Determ inants of Positive and Negative Generation Effects in Free Recall

Better retention of self-produced as opposed to experimenter-presented material is called generation effect; the reverse phenomenon is the negative generation effect. Both are found in intentional-learning experiments in which generating versus reading is manipulated between subjects. The present article presents an overview of those findings and aims at clarifying the conditions under which these effects emerge. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that if cuetarget relations are manipulated within one list, a negative generation effect in free recall can be obtained for all items, no matter which cue-target relation they bear. In Experiment 3, cue-target relations were manipulated between lists. Here, a negative generation effect in free recall was found only in lists in which items were cued with words that mismatched the intertarget relations, whereas a positive generation effect was observed in those lists in which the generation cues matched the inter-target relations. A subsequent cued-recall test demonstrated that in cases of mismatch of relations, participants in the generate condition process cue-target relations at the expense of inter-target relations. The three-factor theory can be integrated with the task-demand account in a transfer-appropriate processing framework to accommodate these findings.

The nature of memory processes underlying recognition judgments in the process dissociation procedure

The hypothesis is tested that the memory processes involved in recognition judgments in the process dissociation procedure are the same as those involved in standard source-monitoring tasks. It is shown how source-monitoring response categories can be mapped onto process dissociation response categories. On the basis of this observation, an experiment was conducted in which it was possible to compare, using a multinomial modeling approach, the parameters representing memory processes in the process dissociation procedure with those involved in source monitoring. For the two different encoding conditions realized, the results are compatible with the hypothesis that the same processes are involved in source monitoring and in recognition judgments in the process dissociation procedure. Implications for the interpretation of the model’s parameters are discussed.

Implicit self-esteem in recurrently depressed patients.

Negative self-esteem is suggested to play an important role in the recurrence of depressive episodes. This study investigated whether repeated experiences of a negative view of the self within a recurrent course of depression might cause implicit self-esteem to be impaired and negative self-attributes to even be chronically activated beyond remission. We measured implicit self-esteem using an Implicit Association Test. The sample consisted of N = 24 currently depressed patients with first-onset depressive episode, N = 28 currently depressed patients with recurrent depressive episodes, N = 33 currently remitted patients with recurrent depressive episodes, and N = 34 controls with no history of depression. In line with cognitive theories, results revealed significantly lower implicit self-esteem in current depressive patients than in healthy controls but no significant differences in implicit self-esteem between remitted recurrent depressive patients and healthy controls. However, remitted depressive patients with three or more depressive episodes showed a significantly lower implicit self-esteem than those with less than three depressive episodes. The current findings underline the necessity of relapse prevention treatments which not only enhance self-esteem at an explicit but also at an implicit level as well as emphasizing the need for evaluations of treatment efficacy to focus upon both implicit and explicit levels of self-esteem.

Irrelevant auditory material affects counting.

R. H. Logie and D. A. Baddeley (1987) suggested that event counting may be supported by a phonologically based working-memory structure referred to as the phonological loop. However, inconsistent results concerning the detrimental effects of irrelevant speech on event counting led them to propose that lexical or semantic representations are also involved. In 4 experiments, the authors showed that this extension of Logie and Baddeleys original conceptualization was unnecessary. Instead, the number of irrelevant syllables spoken per time unit, a factor that was not taken into account in previous research, can explain Logie and Baddeleys results. In addition, the present results support the hypothesis that in cases of interference from the auditory channel, correction processes that help to recover the current running total from past running totals are also involved in counting performance.

On the Role of Fragmentary Knowledge in a Sequence Learning Task

There has been considerable debate about whether or not we need to distinguish between the acquisition of implicit—and, independently thereof, the acquisition of explicit—knowledge in sequence learning tasks. Proponents of the view that a unitary knowledge base is formed assume (a) that the knowledge acquired is explicitly available, and (b) that information about sequence fragments forms the core of this explicit knowledge. Both of these issues are addressed empirically in the present article. In two experiments, an adapted process dissociation procedure and a suitable measurement model were used to separate recollective (explicit) and fluency-based (implicit) memory processes in a sequence learning task. Experiment 1 demonstrated that fluency-based processes came into play much later than recollective processes. Such recollective processes have been conceptualized as being based on simple knowledge about sequence fragments or chunks. Indeed, Experiment 2 showed that recollective processes are more likely to contribute to sequence judgements if chunks are readily available at test than if they are not. Together, these results are in line with the view that the learning of an event systematicity can be conceived of as the memorization of chunks of events that support both the speeding up of reaction times to systematic events and explicit, recollective memory processes even after relatively little training.