Measuring Implicit Attitudes in Socially Sensitive Topics: Practicalities of Implicit Association Test

Abstract

This case study draws the readers’ attention to the importance of using mixed methods in attitudinal studies and suggests an implicit association test as a measure of implicit attitudes. It presents the process of constructing an attitudinal implicit association test, including stimuli selection, pilot testing, test administration, and preliminary results using attitudes toward female managers among young Chinese individuals as an example. By following the authors’ challenges and final decisions throughout the implicit association test construction process, the readers will become familiar with practical considerations involved in choosing stimuli and learn to make informed decisions when they construct their own tests. The implicit association test structure is explained, and the authors’ final implicit association test structure is clearly presented for a convenient replication in research involving measurement of attitudes. In our study of female managers, both explicit and implicit data obtained from 80 tourism management students indicated that overall there was no bias toward female managers. However, analysis by gender revealed that females showed slightly more positive implicit attitudes than males.

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