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Processing fluency as a predictor of salience asymmetries in the Implicit Association Test
Betty P I Chang1, Chris J Mitchell
1University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia. bchang@psy.unsw.edu.au
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|March 3, 2009
Summary
Processing fluency, not visual search, explains compatibility effects in the Implicit Association Test (IAT). This finding suggests the IAT may better reflect cognitive processing than implicit attitudes.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is widely used to measure implicit attitudes.
- Rothermund and Wentura proposed that salience asymmetries, linked to visual search, cause IAT compatibility effects, questioning its validity as an attitude measure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether processing fluency or visual search asymmetry is a better predictor of IAT compatibility effects.
- To determine the underlying mechanism of salience asymmetries in the IAT.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted comparing processing fluency and visual search asymmetry.
- Stimulus categories were manipulated to create opposing relationships between visual search speed and processing fluency.
Main Results:
- IAT compatibility effects consistently correlated with differences in processing fluency between categories.
- Visual search asymmetries did not reliably predict IAT compatibility effects across experiments.
Conclusions:
- Processing fluency is a more robust indicator of salience asymmetries influencing the IAT than visual search asymmetry.
- The findings challenge the interpretation of IAT compatibility effects as solely reflecting implicit attitudes, highlighting the role of cognitive processing fluency.
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