Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Article

The Moving-IAT

Evaluating the Potential of a Single-Block Variant of the Implicit Association Test in Personality Assessment

Published Online:December 22, 2015https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000305

Abstract

Abstract. Accumulated evidence suggests that indirect measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) provide an increment in personality assessment explaining behavioral variance over and above self-reports. Likewise, it has been shown that there are several unwanted sources of variance in personality IATs potentially reducing their psychometric quality. For example, there is evidence that individuals use imagery-based facilitation strategies while performing the IAT. That is, individuals actively create mental representations of their person that fit to the category combination in the respective block, but do not necessarily fit to their implicit personality self-concept. A single-block IAT variant proposed by attitude research, where compatible and incompatible trials are presented in one and the same block, may prevent individuals from using such facilitation strategies. Consequently, for the trait need for cognition (NFC), a new single-block IAT version was developed (called Moving-IAT) and tested against the standard IAT for differences in internal consistency and predictive validity in a sample of 126 participants. Although the Moving-IAT showed lower internal consistency, its predictive value for NFC-typical behavior was higher than that of the standard IAT. Given individual’s strategy reports, the single-block structure of the Moving-IAT indeed reduces the likelihood of imagery-based strategies.

References

  • Asendorpf, J. B. (1988). Individual-response profiles in the behavioral-assessment of personality. European Journal of Personality, 2, 155–167. doi: 10.1002/per.2410020209 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Asendorpf, J. B., Banse, R. & Muecke, D. (2002). Double dissociation between implicit and explicit personality self-concept: The case of shy behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 380–393. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.83.2.380 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Back, M. D., Schmukle, S. C. & Egloff, B. (2005). Measuring task-switching ability in the Implicit Association Test. Experimental Psychology, 52, 167–179. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169.52.3.167 First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Back, M. D., Schmukle, S. C. & Egloff, B. (2009). Predicting actual behavior from the explicit and implicit self-concept of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 533–548. doi: 10.1037/A0016229 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Blair, I. V., Ma, J. E. & Lenton, A. P. (2001). Imagining stereotypes away: The moderation of implicit stereotypes through mental imagery. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 828–841. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.81.5.828 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bless, H., Wanke, M., Bohner, G., Fellhauer, R. F. & Schwarz, N. (1994). Need for Cognition: Eine Skala zur Erfassung von Engagement und Freude bei Denkaufgaben [Need for Cognition – a Scale Measuring Engagement and Happiness in Cognitive Tasks]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 25, 147–154. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Fleischhauer, M., Enge, S., Miller, R., Strobel, A. & Strobel, A. (2013). Neuroticism explains unwanted variance in Implicit Association Tests of personality: Possible evidence for an affective valence confound. Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences, . doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00672 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Fleischhauer, M., Strobel, A., Enge, S. & Strobel, A. (2013). Assessing implicit cognitive motivation: Developing and Testing an Implicit Association Test to measure need for cognition. European Journal of Personality, 27, 15–29. doi: 10.1002/Per.1841 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Fleischhauer, M., Strobel, A. & Strobel, A. (2015). Directly and indirectly assessed need for cognition differentially predict spontaneous and reflective information processing behavior. Journal of Individual Differences, 36, 101–109. First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Gast, A. & Rothermund, K. (2010). When old and frail is not the same: Dissociating category and stimulus effects in four implicit attitude measurement methods. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 479–498. doi: 10.1080/17470210903049963 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E. & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1464 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A. & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and using the implicit association test: I. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197–216. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Kersting, M., Althoff, K. & Jäger, A. O. (2008). WIT-2. Der Wilde-Intelligenztest. Verfahrenshinweise [WIT-2. The Wilde Intelligence Test. Test Instructions]. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Klauer, K. C., Voss, A., Schmitz, F. & Teige-Mocigemba, S. (2007). Process components of the implicit association test: A diffusion-model analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 353–368. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.353 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Krohne, H. W., Egloff, B., Kohlmann, C. W. & Tausch, A. (1996). Untersuchungen mit einer deutschen Form der “Positive and Negative Affect Schedule” (PANAS). Diagnostica, 42, 139–156. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mierke, J. & Klauer, K. C. (2001). Implicit association measurement with the IAT: Evidence for effects of executive control processes. Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie, 48, 107–122. First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Nosek, B. A., Greenwald, A. G. & Banaji, M. R. (2007). The Implicit Association Test at age 7: A methodological and conceptual review. In J. A. BarghEd., Automatic processes in social thinking and behavior (pp. 265–292). New York, NY: Psychology Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Penke, L., Eichstaedt, J. & Asendorpf, J. (2006). Single-Attribute Implicit Association Tests (SA-IAT) for the assessment of unipolar constructs. The case of sociosexuality. Experimental Psychology, 53, 283–291. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169.53.4.283 First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Posner, M. I. & Rothbart, M. K. (2007). Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of psychological science. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 1–23. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085516 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Rothermund, K., Teige-Mocigemba, S., Gast, A. & Wentura, D. (2009). Minimizing the influence of recoding in the Implicit Association Test: The Recoding-Free Implicit Association Test (IAT-RF). The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 84–98. doi: 10.1080/17470210701822975 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schnabel, K., Banse, R. & Asendorpf, J. B. (2006). Assessment of implicit personality self-concept using the implicit association test (IAT): Concurrent assessment of anxiousness and angriness. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 373–396. doi: 10.1348/01446660sx49159 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • See, Y. H. M., Petty, R. E. & Evans, L. M. (2009). The impact of perceived message complexity and need for cognition on information processing and attitudes. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 880–889. doi: 10.1016/j.jrp.2009.04.006 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Teige-Mocigemba, S., Klauer, K. C. & Rothermund, K. (2008). Minimizing method-specific variance in the IAT A single block IAT. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 24, 237–245. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759.24.4.237 First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar

  • Watson, D., Hubbard, B. & Wiese, D. (2000). General traits of personality and affectivity as predictors of satisfaction in intimate relationships: Evidence from self- and partner-ratings. Journal of Personality, 68, 413–449. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Zinkernagel, A., Hofmann, W., Dislich, F. X. R., Gschwendner, T. & Schmitt, M. (2011). Indirect assessment of implicit disgust sensitivity. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27, 237–243. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759/a000078 First citation in articleLink, Google Scholar