Tobias Gschwendner

A Meta-Analysis on the Correlation Between the Implicit Association Test and Explicit Self-Report Measures

Theoretically, low correlations between implicit and explicit measures can be due to (a) motivational biases in explicit self reports, (b) lack of introspective access to implicitly assessed representations, (c) factors influencing the retrieval of information from memory, (d) method-related characteristics of the two measures, or (e) complete independence of the underlying constructs. The present study addressed these questions from a meta-analytic perspective, investigating the correlation between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit self-report measures. Based on a sample of 126 studies, the mean effect size was .24, with approximately half of the variability across correlations attributable to moderator variables. Correlations systematically increased as a function of (a) increasing spontaneity of self-reports and (b) increasing conceptual correspondence between measures. These results suggest that implicit and explicit measures are generally related but that higher order inferences and lack of conceptual correspondence can reduce the influence of automatic associations on explicit self-reports.

Working Memory Capacity and Self-Regulatory Behavior: Toward an Individual Differences Perspective on Behavior Determination by Automatic Versus Controlled Processes

In the present research, the authors investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relative influence of automatic versus controlled precursors on self-regulatory behavior. In 2 studies, on sexual interest behavior (Study 1) and the consumption of tempting food (Study 2), automatic attitudes toward the temptation of interest had a stronger influence on behavior for individuals who scored low rather than high in working memory capacity. Analogous results emerged in Study 3 on anger expression in a provoking situation when a measure of the automatic personality trait of angriness was employed. Conversely, controlled dispositions such as explicit attitudes (Study 1) and self-regulatory goals (Studies 2 and 3) were more effective in guiding behavior for participants who scored high rather than low in working memory capacity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior.

What moderates implicit—explicit consistency?

Implicit and explicit indicators of attitudes or personality traits are positively, and variably, related. This review places the question of implicit ‐ explicit consistency into the tradition of attitude/trait ‐ behaviour consistency (e.g., Wicker, 1969). Drawing on dual-process models, such as the recent distinction between associative and propositional representations (Strack & Deutsch, 2004), we identify a working model of implicit ‐ explicit consistency that organises the empirical evidence on implicit ‐ explicit moderation into five factors: translation between implicit and explicit representations (e.g., representational strength, awareness), additional information integration for explicit representations (e.g., need for cognition), properties of explicit assessment (e.g., social desirability concerns), properties of implicit assessment (e.g., situational malleability), and research design factors (e.g., sampling bias, measurement correspondence).

On implicit–explicit consistency: the moderating role of individual differences in awareness and adjustment

A moderated process model is presented that attempts to explain the consistency between implicit and explicit indicators as a function of awareness, i.e. the degree to which persons become aware of their implicit attitude, and adjustment, i.e. the degree to which they adjust for the explicit response. In two experiments on attitudes of West Germans toward East Germans and Turks, a number of dispositional moderators pertaining to awareness and adjustment were tested. Concerning moderators affecting awareness, no reliable first‐order effects were found for Private Self‐Consciousness or Attitudinal Self‐Knowledge. However, Attitude Importance generated the expected effect. Concerning moderators influencing adjustment, consistent effects were obtained for Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions. Social Desirability and Self‐Monitoring did not moderate the implicit–explicit relationship in the expected direction. Some evidence was found for a second‐order moderator effect between awareness and adjustment, suggesting that adjustment effects may be more pronounced under conditions of high awareness. Copyright

Men on the pull : automatic approach-avoidance tendencies and sexual interest behavior

In the present study, we adapted and validated a measure of automatic approach-avoidance tendencies toward sexual stimuli in a male heterosexual sample (N = 29). As expected, automatic approach-avoidance tendencies, as measured via push and pull reactions in a joystick task, primarily predicted an unobtrusive measure of the time participants viewed erotic slides but not a more deliberate measure of forced-choice between an erotic and an art calendar. Conversely, participants’ explicit attitudes primarily predicted the forced-choice measure but not viewing time. Furthermore, automatic approach-avoidance tendencies discriminated reliably between those participants who were and those who were not currently engaged in a romantic relationship.

Differential Stability The Effects of Acute and Chronic Construct Accessibility on the Temporal Stability of the Implicit Association Test

The current research explored the stability of the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) depending on contextual constraints and chronic accessibility. Two studies incorporated background pictures into the IAT. In Study 1, the 2-week stability of an IAT assessing anxiety was higher when IAT stimuli were embedded in an anxiety-relevant background (e.g., a snake). In Study 2, this context effect could be replicated in the domain of racial attitudes. Moreover, the context effect in Study 2 was especially pronounced for participants with high chronic access to the relevant concept. The results support the assumption that implicit measures like the IAT are sensitive to contextual constraints and that these constraints can be utilized to enhance the stability of the IAT.

Convergent and Predictive Validity of Implicit and Explicit Anxiety Measures as a Function of Specificity Similarity and Content Similarity

In the present study we applied a validation strategy for implicit measures like the IAT, which complements multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) analyses. As the measurement method (implicit vs. explicit) and underlying representation format (associative vs. propositional) are often confounded, the validation of implicit measures has to go beyond MTMM analysis and requires substantive theoretical models. In the present study (N = 133), we employed such a model (Hofmann, Gschwendner, Nosek, & Schmitt, 2005) and investigated two moderator constructs in the realm of anxiety: specificity similarity and content similarity. In the first session, different general and specific anxiety measures were administered, among them an Implicit Association Test (IAT) general anxiety, an IAT-spider anxiety, and an IAT that assesses speech anxiety. In the second session, participants had to deliver a speech and behavioral indicators of speech anxiety were measured. Results showed that (a) implicit and explicit anxiety measures cor...

Proposal of a Nonlinear Interaction of Person and Situation (NIPS) model

Marshall and Brown (2006) proposed a Traits as Situational Sensitivities (TASS) Model, which implies a systematic person × situation interaction. We review this model and show that it suffers from several limitations. We extend and modify the model in order to obtain a symmetric pattern of levels and effects for both person and situation factors. Our suggestions result in a general Nonlinear Interaction of Person and Situation (NIPS) Model. The NIPS model bears striking similarities to the Rasch model. Based on the symmetric nature of the NIPS model, we generalize the concept of weak and strong situations to individuals and propose the concepts of weak and strong persons. Finally, we discuss psychological mechanisms that might explain the NIPS pattern and offer ideas for future research.

Synergistic Moderator Effects of Situation and Person Factors of Awareness and Adjustment on the Consistency of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes

A moderated consistency model is presented, which attempts to explain the consistency between explicit and implicit indicators as a function of awareness and adjustment. In a study on attitudes of Germans toward Turks, we tested the hypothesis that functionally equivalent person and situation moderators pertaining to awareness and adjustment show a synergistic interplay. Concerning moderators of adjustment, no effects on explicit-implicit consistency were obtained for situational variables nor for the interaction of personal and situational variables. However, concerning moderators of awareness, a reliable first-order effect was found for Private Self-Consciousness. Moreover, Private Self-Consciousness and experimentally manipulated motivation to introspect showed the assumed synergistic interaction moderator effect. The empirical findings are discussed with regard to the role of awareness of implicit attitudes and the potentially underlying mechanisms of implicit-explicit consistency.

Moderatoren der Konsistenz implizit und explizit erfasster Einstellungen und Persönlichkeitsmerkmale

Zusammenfassung. In zahlreichen Studien zeigte sich, dass implizit erfasste Einstellungen und Personlichkeitseigenschaften (z.B. mit Hilfe eines Impliziten Assoziationstests von Greenwald et al., 1998) nur masig mit Selbstberichtsmasen fur das “gleiche“ Konstrukt korrelieren. Zunachst greifen wir fruhere Diskussionen der Konsistenzproblematik auf und erortern die Frage, welche Variablen den fraglichen Zusammenhang moderieren. Dann schlagen wir ein Prozessmodell vor, aus dem sich Randbedingungen ergeben, unter denen implizite und explizite Indikatoren konvergieren. Das Modell kann die Mehrzahl der empirischen Moderatorbefunde erklaren. Bekannte Konsistenzmoderatoren lassen sich vier Kategorien zuordnen: Methodisch triviale Moderatoren (z.B. die Reliabilitat der verwendeten Mase), Attribute der jeweiligen Disposition (z.B. die Wichtigkeit einer Einstellung), Merkmale von Personen (z.B. das Anerkennungsmotiv), Merkmale von Situationen (z.B. Anwesenheit anderer). Die Ubertragung der Erkenntnisse aus den fruhe...