Implicit Attitudes towards Homosexuality: Reliability, Validity, and Controllability of the IAT
Abstract
Abstract. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the psychometric properties of an Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) that was adapted to measure implicit attitudes towards homosexuality. In a first experiment, the validity of the Homosexuality-IAT was tested using a known group approach. Implicit and explicit attitudes were assessed in heterosexual and homosexual men and women (N = 101). The results provided compelling evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the Homosexuality-IAT as a measure of implicit attitudes. No evidence was found for two alternative explanations of IAT effects (familiarity with stimulus material and stereotype knowledge). The internal consistency of IAT scores was satisfactory (αs > .80), but retest correlations were lower. In a second experiment (N = 79) it was shown that uninformed participants were able to fake positive explicit but not implicit attitudes. Discrepancies between implicit and explicit attitudes towards homosexuality could be partially accounted for by individual differences in the motivation to control prejudiced behavior, thus providing independent evidence for the validity of the implicit attitude measure. Neither explicit nor implicit attitudes could be changed by persuasive messages. The results of both experiments are interpreted as evidence for a single construct account of implicit and explicit attitudes towards homosexuality.
Zusammenfassung. Zwei Experimente wurden durchgeführt, um die psychometrischen Eigenschaften eines Implicit Associaton Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998) zur Messung von impliziten Einstellungen zur Homosexualität zu untersuchen. In Experiment 1 wurde die Validität des Homosexualität-IATs mit Hilfe eines known-group Ansatzes getestet. Implizite und explizite Einstellungen wurden bei heterosexuellen und homosexuellen Männern und Frauen erhoben (N = 101). Die Ergebnisse liefern einen überzeugenden Beleg für die konvergente und diskriminante Validität des Homosexualtiät-IATs als ein Maß impliziter Einstellungen. Keine Evidenz wurde für zwei alternative Erklärungen von IAT Effekten gefunden (Familiarität des Stimulusmaterials und stereotypes Wissen). Die interne Konsistenz des IATs war zufriedenstellend (αs > .80), aber die Retest Korrelationen waren niedriger. In Experiment 2 (N = 79) konnte gezeigt werden, daß uninformierte Versuchspersonen in der Lage waren, explizite Einstellungen zu fälschen, nicht aber implizite. Unterschiede zwischen impliziten und expliziten Einstellungen zur Homosexualität konnten teilweise durch individuelle Unterschiede in der Motivation zur Vorurteilskontrolle erklärt werden. Damit wurde weitere Evidenz für die Validität der impliziten Einstellungsmessung gefunden. Weder explizite noch implizite Einstellungen konnten durch persuasive Botschaften verändert werden. Die Ergebnisse beider Experimente werden als Belege dafür interpretiert, daß es sich bei impliziten und expliziten Einstellungen zur Homosexualität um ein einziges Konstrukt handelt.
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