The Computerized Implicit Representation Test: Construct and incremental validity

Discrepancies in mental representations between self-aspects and significant others are associated with depression, personality disorders, emotional reactivity, and interpersonal distress. The Computerized Implicit Representation Test (CIRT) is a novel measure developed to assess discrepancies in mental representations. Inpatient participants (N = 165) enrolled in a longitudinal study completed baseline CIRT ratings of similarity between self-aspects (actual-self, ideal-self, and ought-self) and between actual-self and significant others (mother, father, liked others, and disliked others). Based on the similarity ratings, multidimensional scaling was utilized to generate distances between key self- and other representations in three-dimensional space. Results of univariate linear regression analyses demonstrated that discrepancies (distances) between self-aspects, actual-self to others, and actual-self to mother were significantly associated with impulsive and self-destructive behaviors and/or lifetime anxiety disorders. Multivariate hierarchical linear regression models further indicated that three CIRT variables provided incremental validity above and beyond age, gender, and/or borderline personality disorder.