A multitrait-multimethod validation of the Implicit Association Test: implicit and explicit attitudes are related but distinct constructs.

Full Abstract

Recent theoretical and methodological innovations suggest a distinction between implicit and explicit evaluations. We applied Campbell and Fiske's (1959) classic multitrait-multimethod design precepts to test the construct validity of implicit attitudes as measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants (N = 287) were measured on both self-report and IAT for up to seven attitude domains. Through a sequence of latent-variable structural models, systematic method variance was distinguished from attitude variance, and a correlated two-factors-per-attitude model (implicit and explicit factors) was superior to a single-factor-per-attitude specification. That is, despite sometimes strong relations between implicit and explicit attitude factors, collapsing their indicators into a single attitude factor resulted in relatively inferior model fit. We conclude that these implicit and explicit measures assess related but distinct attitude constructs. This provides a basis for, but does not distinguish between, dual-process and dual-representation theories that account for the distinctions between constructs.

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Author information

Author/s: Nosek, Brian A (BA); Smyth, Frederick L (FL);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA. nosek(-atsign-)virginia.edu

Grants: MH-R01 MH68447-01 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Experimental psychology (Exp Psychol), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-; vol 54 (issue 1) : pp 14-29

Dates: Created 2007/03/07; Completed 2007/05/03; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 17341011, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Personal Construct Theory
Personality Tests - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data
Reaction Time
Reproducibility of Results
Set (Psychology)
Social Perception
Statistics as Topic

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