Measuring implicit attitudes: A positive framing bias flaw in the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP)

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Attitude Measurement

Background:

• Implicit attitudes are often measured using relative tasks like the Implicit Association Test (IAT).
• The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) claims to measure absolute implicit attitudes.
• Previous IRAP studies have shown unexpected positive or neutral implicit attitudes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether framing influences IRAP measurements of implicit attitudes.
• To examine how framing effects are modulated by the strength of prior stimulus associations.
• To question the validity of the IRAP for measuring absolute implicit attitudes.

Main Methods:

• Implicit attitudes were measured using the IRAP across different categories (nonwords, social systems, flowers, insects, thin/fat people).
• Three framing conditions were employed: standard, positive framing, and negative framing.
• Participants completed IRAP tasks designed to elicit congruent or incongruent responses.

Main Results:

• IRAP scores were significantly influenced by the framing of the task.
• The framing effect on IRAP scores varied depending on the strength of pre-existing stimulus associations.
• A default positive framing bias (PFB) was observed, leading to an overestimation of positive implicit attitudes.

Conclusions:

• The IRAP's validity for measuring absolute implicit attitudes is questionable due to framing effects.
• A default positive framing bias can skew results, particularly for stimuli with weaker prior associations.
• A new tool, the Simple Implicit Procedure (SIP), is proposed for more accurate absolute implicit attitude measurement.