Main content
A multitrait-multimethod validation of the Implicit Association Test
Date created: | Last Updated:
: DOI | ARK
Creating DOI. Please wait...
Category: Project
Description: Recent theoretical and methodological innovations suggest a distinction between automatic and controlled evaluative processes. We report a construct validation investigation of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of attitudes. In Study 1, a composite of 57 unique studies (total N=13,165), correlated two-factor (implicit and explicit attitudes) structural models fit the data better than single-factor (attitude) models for each of 57 different domains (e.g., cats-dogs). In Study 2, we distinguished attitude and method factors with a multitrait-multimethod design: N=287 participants were measured on both self-report and IAT for up to seven attitude domains. With systematic method variance accounted for, a correlated two-factor-per-attitude- contrast model was again superior to a single-factor-per-attitude specification. We conclude that these implicit and explicit measures assess related but distinct attitude constructs.