Implicit Association Test Strengths And Weaknesses

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Within social psychology lies the study of attitudes and stereotypes. These phenomena include a type of bias known as implicit bias; the term implicit bias describes attitudes towards people or associate stereotypes with them without conscious knowledge. We can measure this type of bias through the Implicit Association Test (IAT), Go/No Association Test (GNAT), Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), Evaluative Priming Task, Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST). Each measure has their own strengths and weaknesses; this essay will compare the Implicit Association Test to the Go/no-go Association Test and will conclude why IAT is a greater way of measuring bias in contrast to GNAT. The IAT is a popular and most used measure of implicit …show more content…

Nosek stated that the IAT “displayed satisfactory internal consistency” because of its ability to get the same result repeatedly which directed to Nosek and Hanse to get “reliably”, (Rezaei, 2011) outcome. The consistency is portrayed within the prediction of social behaviours. Its stated that the “implicit measures of attitudes are especially predictive”, (Dovidio, 1997) revealing the idea of the IAT having a good re-test reliability as each result is consistent. Steffens and Buchner also state the consistency is “very high” which further supports the IAT’s reliability. Overall, IAT’s reliability has made the test become a “widely used instrument” (McConnell and Leibold, 2001) to measure implicit bias which makes the test a finer of measuring bias. However, in contrast, GNAT has very low reliability. The GNAT “does not ameliorate the concerns about the reliability of implicit measures, (Nosek and Banaji, 2001). However, its reliability can be improved by increasing the trials for the test, therefore, there will be more data points being calculated for the result. Secondly, use a variable response deadline; the participant can choose their own deadline, improving the accuracy across subjects. Finally, using the response latency approach within the GNAT test as its more reliable simply because each point is a continuous value. However, this is something that the IAT already has. Although, the GNAT can “effectively asses the strength of associate on between a concept and the poles of an attribute dimension” (Nosek and Banaji, 2001) the IAT is more reliable simply as it, “shows good reliability, which is a prerequisite for measuring individual differences,” (Rezaei,

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