Awareness of implicit attitudes.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Attitude Measurement
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Implicit attitudes are often measured using the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
• Low correspondence between implicit and explicit attitude measures is typically interpreted as limited self-awareness.
• Previous research has not directly assessed individuals' ability to predict their own implicit attitude scores.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether individuals can accurately predict their performance on implicit attitude measures.
• To examine the factors influencing the accuracy of implicit attitude predictions.
• To re-evaluate the assumption that implicit attitudes measured by the IAT are necessarily unconscious.

Main Methods:

• Participants directly predicted their upcoming Implicit Association Test (IAT) results for attitudes toward social groups.
• Four studies were conducted, varying how implicit attitudes were framed and how predictions were made.
• Study 3 specifically tested if predictions reflected unique self-insight rather than general assumptions.

Main Results:

• Participants demonstrated surprising accuracy in predicting their implicit attitude scores across all studies.
• Prediction accuracy remained consistent regardless of attitude framing, prediction format, or participant experience.
• Results indicated that participants' predictions offered unique insight into their own implicit responses.

Conclusions:

• Individuals possess a greater awareness of their implicit attitudes than previously assumed.
• The accuracy of implicit attitude predictions challenges the notion that IAT-measured attitudes are entirely unconscious.
• Further research is needed to understand the nature of implicit attitudes and self-awareness.