Anti-fat, pro-slim, or both? Using two reaction-time based measures to assess implicit attitudes to the slim and...

Two measures of implicit attitudes, the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and the Implicit Association Test (IAT), were compared with each other and with a measure of explicit attitudes in the assessment of implicit pro-slim/anti-fat bias. Results from both implicit tests indicated higher levels of bias than revealed by the explicit measure. The IRAP data suggested that it was participants' pro-slim rather than anti-fat bias, which was driving this effect. Explicit attitudes and feelings towards the overweight were significant predictors of behavioural intentions towards the overweight with the IRAP offering a greater contribution to predictive validity than the IAT.