Social Cognition-Implicit & Explicit attitudes

Indirect/Implicit Measures

-Do not require introspective access -Designed to limit deliberate reasoning processes

Logic of evaluative priming task

-If an entity activates positive associations, exposure to the entity should make it:1.Easy to identify positive concepts 2.Difficult to identify negative concepts -If an entity activates negative associations, exposure to the entity should make it: 1. Easy to identify negative concepts 2. Difficult to identify positive concepts Faster RTs to Good words than bad words= positive implicit evaluation of white people

Implicit &explicit attitudes: Summary

-Implicit measures allow researchers to overcome the unwilling&unable problem -Both implicit and explicit attitudes are real-they predict behaviors in different circumstances&predict different types of behavior -Implicit attitudes do NOT reflect stable & unchangeable associations-like explicit attitudes, they're malleable

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior? (They predict different types of behavior)

-Implicit-spontaneous behaviors(non-verbal) -explicit-deliberative behaviors(verbal)

Strategic attempts to change implicit attitudes (Cognitive re-training)

-White Ps saw faces of blacks & whites paired with stereotypic or counter-stereotypic traits -Negation trainning: press sapcebar to say NO to each sterotypic pair -Affirmation training: Press spacebar to say YES to each counter-stereotypic pair Negation increase the automatic preference for white over black. Affirmation decrease the preference.

Logic of IAT

-When two concepts are associated in memory, it;s easy to give the same response to exemplars(words images) representing those concepts -When two concepts are not associated, it's difficult to give the same response to their exemplars -Ease of giving same response to exemplars of two concepts reflects strength of association between those concepts

Strategic attempts to change implicit attitudes (Perspective taking/role taking)

-control: Write about a typical day in the life of the person in the photo(see photo of individual group member) -perspective taking: As you're writing, take the person's perspective-vividly imagine what he might be thinking, feeling, and experiencing. Results: 1. More positive implicit &explicit attitudes toward group whose perspective is taken. 2. Similar results on 5 different implicit measures

Problems with self-reports(unable; unwilling)

-unable:People may lack introspective access to operation of their own mental processes -unwilling: People may be motivated to answer in particular way because of self-deception, socially desirable responding(socially sensitive topics)

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior? (They predict different types of behavior) e.g., Shy behavior (Asendorpf)

1.Shyness-inducing situation (unfamiliar, attractive opposite-sex confederate, videotaped& evaluated) 2.Coded spontaneous(e.g., body tenseness,gaze)&Controlled(e.g.,speech)behavior 3.Ps completed implicit &explicit measures of shyness 4.Implicit self-concept predict spontaneous shy behavior, explicit self-concept predicts controlled shy behavior

But is it prejudice?

1. Most researchers believe it reflects underlying bias -Many would prefer to not call it prejudice per se -would leave term prejudice to endorsed beliefs 2.Tetlock -It's not bias/prejudice if we don't endorse the attitudes -Debate goes back to Plato vs. Aristotle Plato: Virtuous people have virtuous impulses, evil have evil impulses Aristotle: Everyone has good&bad impulses, good or evil behavior depends on regulating those impulses

Types of Implicit Measures

1. Projective techniques (Thematic apperception task) 2. Physiological measures -Pupil dilation& ski conductance can measure arousal -Facial EMG(muscle movements) Zygomaticus major-smile-positivity Corrugator supercilii -frown- negativity 3. Response-time(RT) measures -Implicit association test (IAT) -Evaluative priming task

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior? (Motivation)

1.When motivation is low, implicit measures should predict behavior 2.E.g, Drinking behavior - Implicit attitudes toward alcohol -Motivation to conceal drinking 3.Even when motivation is high, other factors can limit impact of motivational factors on behavior

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior? (They predict different types of behavior) e.g., Interracial interactions(Dovidio)

1. White Ps complete measures of implicit&explicit racial attitudes 2. Interaction w/ Black confederate (secretly videotaped) 3,Coded for friendliness' -verbal(audio only) -non-verbal(video only) 4.Implicit measure predicts non-verbal friendliness, explicit prejudice predicts verbal friendliness

IAT Does the order matter?

1.Counter balance 2.Add practice

Which is the Real Attitude?Fazio

Automatic attitude is real, but only "personal" associations -May or may not endorse what's activated -Argues that there are differences in both automatic& controlled processes (which is clearly true) -Automatic associations will determine thought & behavior if motivation or ability to control is low

In what sense are implicit measures automatic?

Aware? -Somewhat-people able to introspect for some attitudes -Certainly aware after taking IAT-people can gauge performance Controllable? -Yes, but very difficult to control directly -Evidence for indirect forms of control Intentional? -no Efficient? -yes

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior? (Future Decision-making)

Decided vs. Undecided voters(Galdi et al., 2008) 1.Italian Ps provide implicit &explicit attitudes toward enlargement of U.S. military base; later made choice 2. Implicit measure: single-category IAT 3.Results: For decided participant, conscious beliefs predicts choice. For undecided participants, automatic associations predict choice.

Are automatic responses a better reflection of the true self than self reports?

Depends on researchers

Contextual Malleability

Exemplar activation-liked vs.disliked (martin lutherking& Hitler) Background context- threatening vs. safe (church&dark tunnel) 1. Change extent to which associations are activated 2. Change which associations are activated

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior? (Motivation and opportunity are key)

Fazio's MODE Model: Motivation and Opportunity as DEterminants of the processes guiding behavior -When both motivation AND opportunity are high, consciously endorsed beliefs guide behavior -When either motivation OR opportunity is low, automatic reactions guide behavior

Cultural vs. Personal

Fazio: If associations reflect extra personal associations learned from environment, then they are not personal attitudes Nosek: The associations in our minds are ours, regardless of where they came from

Are responses on implicit &Explicit measures related?

Implicit-explicit correlation: r=0.24 Relationship stronger when: -self-reports are measured in a conceptually similar way to implicit measures(e.g, IAT&relative scales) -Opportunity to deliberate on self-reports is low -Motivation to deliberate on self-reports is low

Which is the Real Attitude? Devine

Knowledge vs. Endorsement -Knowledge=automatic activation `"cultural virus" that almost everyone has `Like the reading habit in the Stroop Task: BLUE -Endorsement=controlled process intentions revealed-this is the true measure of prejudice *What you endorse is what's real- the rest is knowledge based on living in particular culture

Does handedness matter?

No

Does it matter what side of the screen the categories appear on?

No

Can responses be controlled or faked?

No and Yes. Consciously try to not to be biased. Not useful rebound. Things you do before IAT might influence association. Fake slow down on block you are good at.

IAT score

RTs for block 5 minus RTs for block

Personalized IAT

Replace "good" and "bad" with "I like" and "I dislike"

Why? Strategic attempts to change implicit attitudes (Perspective taking/role taking)

Self-other Merging -Perspective taking activates self-associations; for most people, self-associations are positive -Positive self-associations are transferred to target and other members of target's group

IAT strength and weakness

Strength: -Easy/inexpensive to administer (5 min) -Higher reliability than other implicit measures -Flexible- can assess attitudes, stereotyping,self-esteem,etc. -applicable in many areas within psychology (clinical) and beyond(marketing) Weakness: -Only assesses relative associative strength-can't assess associations with a single entity *Should not use for selection decisions(law enforcement jobs, juries)

Evaluative priming task strengths & weaknesses

Strengths: -Easy/inexpensive to administer(5min) -Flexible-can assess attitudes, stereotyping, self-esteem -applicable in many areas within psychology (clinical) and beyond(marketing) -Can assess associations with a single entity Weakness -Low reliability (internal consistency &test-retest) *Should not be used for selection decisions

When do implicit vs. explicit attitudes predict behavior?(Opportunity)

When opportunity is low, implicit measures should predict behavior. e.g., Alcohol intoxication & consuming candy *Fatigue/ego depletion produces similar effects

Are automatic responses influenced by eternal or cultural associations?

Yes