Implicit attitudes towards risky driving behaviors: Evidence of validity for the implicit association test.

INTRODUCTION: Attitudes toward risky driving behaviors are commonly evaluated through direct self-report measures. Nevertheless, these instruments have limitations, such as socially-desirable responding. This study examines the validity of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as an indirect measure of attitudes towards risky driving. An IAT with "risky" vs. "safe" driving behaviors categories was evaluated. METHOD: A sample of 100 participants (ranging from 18 to 70 years of age) completed the IAT and measures of attitudes, driving styles, personality traits, risk-taking (IOWA Gambling Task), and social desirability (Driver Social Desirability Scale). RESULTS: A high level of internal consistency was found for IAT scores. The IAT was correlated with driving styles (risky, dissociative, and careful dimensions), risk-related personality traits (impulsive/sensation seeking and aggression/hostility) and risk-taking measures. IAT scores were also associated with self-reported risky driving behaviors (r = 0.33). As expected, a higher level of negative implicit attitudes was found among young drivers. The driver social desirability scale was correlated with most self-report measures, but not with the IAT. CONCLUSION: The present study provides reliability and validity evidence for the IAT as an indirect measure of attitudes towards risky driving. The IAT can serve as an important complement to conventional self-report measures of driving attitudes. Practical Applications: Potential use of global measure of implicit attitudes toward risky driving behaviors in the evaluation, education, and training of drivers are discussed.

The Gender Violence - Implicit Association Test to measure attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women.

Attitudes play a central role in intimate partner violence against women and are related to its origin, to the responses of women who suffer violence, and to the settings where it occurs. In fact, these attitudes are recognized as one of the risk factors linked to violent perpetration and to public, professional, and victim responses to this type of violence. However, even though available research generally shows a broad rejection of this violence, it remains a serious social and health problem that has reached epidemic proportions. This suggests that the information available about these attitudes (obtained through explicit and direct measures, i.e., self-reports) may be distorted or influenced by factors such as social desirability. In this context, the overall objective of our research project is to provide multi-method measures (explicit and implicit) of attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women, and the main goal of this paper is to propose an instrument for the implicit measurement of these attitudes. In this regard, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is the most common procedure used, providing a superior predictive validity compared to explicit measures for socially sensitive topics. We will present an exploratory study that describes its adaptation for our purposes, and the development of the Gender Violence - Implicit Association Test (GV-IAT) to use among Spanish-speaking populations, and discuss the strengths and limitations of this proposal.

The Gender Violence - Implicit Association Test to measure attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women

Attitudes play a central role in intimate partner violence against women and are related to its origin, to the responses of women who suffer violence, and to the settings where it occurs. In fact, these attitudes are recognized as one of the risk factors linked to violent perpetration and to public, professional, and victim responses to this type of violence. However, even though available research generally shows a broad rejection of this violence, it remains a serious social and health problem that has reached epidemic proportions. This suggests that the information available about these attitudes (obtained through explicit and direct measures, i.e., self-reports) may be distorted or influenced by factors such as social desirability. In this context, the overall objective of our research project is to provide multi-method measures (explicit and implicit) of attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women, and the main goal of this paper is to propose an instrument for the implicit measurement of these attitudes. In this regard, the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is the most common procedure used, providing a superior predictive validity compared to explicit measures for socially sensitive topics. We will present an exploratory study that describes its adaptation for our purposes, and the development of the Gender Violence - Implicit Association Test (GV-IAT) to use among Spanish-speaking populations, and discuss the strengths and limitations of this proposal.

Contextual information about the Peruvian national ingroup and its effect on attitudes towards a novel brand / Información contextual sobre el endogrupo nacional peruano y su efecto en las actitudes hacia una marca novedosa

The effect of contextual information about the national ingroup on explicit and implicit attitudes towards a novel brand was studied on a sample of university students from the Lima Metropolitan area (n = 59). The results show that the negative information about the ingroup exerts more influence on explicit attitudes towards a novel brand than the positive information. This effect is understood as a habituation of Peruvians towards the positive contextual information about their group, and an ingroup bias that acts when their national identity is threatened by the negative input. This bias guides them towards explicitly favoring a product they consider related to their social identity. On the other hand, the lack of visible results on the implicit attitudes is explained by the order effect of the Implicit Attitudes Test (IAT). These findings are relevant for advertising and marketing industries in Peru, which constantly develop campaigns that extol Peru and the Peruvian identity.

El efecto de la información contextual sobre el endogrupo nacional en las actitudes explícitas e implícitas hacia una marca novedosa fue estudiado en una muestra de estudiantes de la ciudad de Lima (n = 59). Los resultados muestran que la información negativa sobre el endogrupo ejerce mayor influencia que la información positiva en las actitudes explícitas hacia una marca novedosa. Este efecto es entendido como una habituación de los peruanos hacia la información contextual positiva acerca del endogrupo, y a un sesgo endogrupal que actúa cuando la identidad nacional se ve amenazada por información negativa. Este sesgo guía a los participantes a favorecer explícitamente aquel producto que consideran está relacionado con su identidad social. Por otra parte, la falta de resultados visibles en las actitudes implícitas es explicada por el efecto del orden del Test de Actitudes Implícitas (IAT). Estos hallazgos son relevantes para las industrias de marketing y publicidad en el Perú, las cuales constantemente desarrollan campañas que exaltan el Perú y la identidad peruana.

Medindo associação implícita com o freeIAT em Português: um exemplo com atitudes implícitas frente ao poliamor / Measuring implicit association with the freeIAT in Portuguese: an example with implicit attitudes toward polyamory

O Teste de Associação Implícita (TAI) tem se mostrado relevante na medição de diversos construtos psicológicos. Entretanto, são escassos os estudos que o consideram no Brasil. Este artigo objetivou introduzir um programa gratuito (FreeIAT) para sua realização, exemplificando com uma medida de atitudes frente ao poliamor. Participaram da pesquisa 50 estudantes universitários com idade média de 22 anos (62% mulheres), que responderam a uma escala de atitudes explícitas frente ao poliamor e ao TAI Monogamia-Poliamor. Os resultados mostraram correlação negativa entre a medida implícita (bloco de latência incongruente) e a explícita de atitudes frente ao poliamor, indicando que quanto maior a aceitação do poliamor, menor o tempo de associação entre os estímulos (palavras positivas e poliamor). Não se observou correlação entre o Escore D e as atitudes explícitas frente ao poliamor, sugerindo que pessoas favoráveis ao poliamor não necessariamente são contrárias à monogamia. Concluiu-se que o FreeIAT possui uma interface simplificada, atendendo às variações do TAI clássico e permitindo aplicação coletiva. Além disso, o fato de ser um programa com código aberto e gratuito tem o potencial de incentivar pesquisas com medidas implícitas em culturas lusófonas. (AU)

Even the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has been shown to be relevant in measuring various psychological constructs there are few studies considering it in Brazil. This paper aims to introduce a free program (FreeIAT) to perform IAT, illustrating it with a measure of attitudes toward polyamory. Participants were 50 undergraduate students with mean age of 22 years (62% women) who answered an explicit scale attitude toward polyamory and the Monogamy-Polyamory IAT. Results showed a negative correlation between implicit (latency of incongruent block) and explicit attitudes measures toward polyamory, indicating that the greater the acceptance of polyamory, the lesser time to association between the stimuli (positive words and polyamory). There was no correlation between the D Score and the explicit attitudes toward polyamory, suggesting that people in favor of polyamory are not necessarily opposed to monogamy. In conclusion, the FreeIAT shows a streamlined interface, following the variations of the classic IAT and allowing collective application. Moreover, the fact of being a free program with open source it has the potential to encourage research on implicit measures in Lusophone cultures. (AU)

Asociaciones implícitas como método para la detección de violencia y psicopatía / Implicit associations as a method for detection of violence and psychopathy

La psicopatía es un trastorno de la personalidad que caracterizado por rasgos interpersonales, afectivos, conductuales y de estilo de vida. Está asociada con conducta violenta, existen pocos estudios que evalúen la tendencia hacia la violencia en psicópatas mediante técnicas de asociaciones implícitas como el Test de Asociaciones Implícitas (IAT). Se desarrolló el IAT-violencia, para evaluar las distorsiones cognitivas acerca de la violencia en 195 reos de acuerdo al nivel de psicopatía y al tipo de delito, se exploró el desempeño en la prueba de acuerdo a los niveles de los factores 1 y 2 de psicopatía. Los resultados indican que los sujetos violentos con alta psicopatía presentan distorsiones cognitivas acerca de la violencia. Aquellos con alto factor 2 de psicopatía presentan distorsiones cognitivas acerca de la violencia. Se discute la relación entre los factores 1 y 2 con la conducta violenta y la importancia de contar con instrumentos breves, confiables y objetivos. Las entrevistas semi-estructuradas requieren 1.5-3.5 horas, un entrenamiento especializado para evaluar el grado de psicopatía. Se discute el potencial para detectar sujetos que estén en riesgo de cometer alguna ofensa violenta mediante el IAT-violencia que toma 15 minutos y cuya calificación es automatizada.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by interpersonal, affective, behavioral and life-style traits. There is a relationship between psychopathy and violent behavior but few studies assess the tendency toward violence in psychopaths by implicit association methods like the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The violent-IAT was developed to assess the cognitive distortions about violence of 195 male inmates according to their psychopathy level and the offense committed, in addition, the performance in the test according to the factor level 1 and 2 of psychopathy was assessed. The results showed that psychopath-violent inmates had cognitive distortions about violence; and those with high factor 2 of psychopathy level inmates had a tendency toward violence. The discussion focused in the relationship between both psychopathy factors and violent behavior; and the importance to have reliable, objective and brief instruments like violent-IAT to measure the tendency toward violent behavior. The semi-structured interviews need a long time and a specialized training to assess the psychopathy level. The potential to detect subjects in high risk of committing extreme violent offenses by violent-IAT, that only need 15 minutes and gives an automatic-scored, is also discussed.