Perceptions of older and younger adults who wear hearing aids.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate older and younger adults' perceptions of older and younger adults who wear hearing aids. DESIGN: Participants completed two Implicit Association Tests: One with images of older adults (OA-IAT) and one with images of younger adults (YA-IAT), either wearing or not wearing hearing aids. Participants also rated age, attractiveness, and intelligence of younger and older adults pictured with or without a hearing aid. STUDY SAMPLE: Thirty older adults (M age = 70 years, SD = 4.38) and 30 younger adults (M age = 23 years, SD = 3.01) who reported not having hearing aids or a diagnosed hearing impairment. RESULTS: For both IATs, older and younger participants responded faster and more accurately when images of individuals wearing hearing aids were paired with negative words in comparison to positive words. Photo ratings did not vary in relation to the presence or absence of hearing aids for either age group. CONCLUSION: Although the photo rating tasks indicate neutral explicit attitudes towards individuals who wear hearing aids, our interpretation of the IAT results indicates that younger and older adults may hold negative implicit attitudes towards both older and younger hearing aid users.

Improving the reliability and validity of the IAT with a dynamic model driven by similarity.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT), like many behavioral measures, seeks to quantify meaningful individual differences in cognitive processes that are difficult to assess with approaches like self-reports. However, much like other behavioral measures, many IATs appear to show low test-retest reliability and typical scoring methods fail to quantify all of the decision-making processes that generate the overt task performance. Here, we develop a new modeling approach for IATs based on the geometric similarity representation (GSR) model. This model leverages both response times and accuracy on IATs to make inferences about representational similarity between the stimuli and categories. The model disentangles processes related to response caution, stimulus encoding, similarities between concepts and categories, and response processes unrelated to the choice itself. This approach to analyzing IAT data illustrates that the unreliability in IATs is almost entirely attributable to the methods used to analyze data from the task: GSR model parameters show test-retest reliability around .80-.90, on par with reliable self-report measures. Furthermore, we demonstrate how model parameters result in greater validity compared to the IAT D-score, Quad model, and simple diffusion model contrasts, predicting outcomes related to intergroup contact and motivation. Finally, we present a simple point-and-click software tool for fitting the model, which uses a pre-trained neural network to estimate best-fit parameters of the GSR model. This approach allows easy and instantaneous fitting of IAT data with minimal demands on coding or technical expertise on the part of the user, making the new model accessible and effective.

Explicit and implicit attitudes of occupational therapy workshops' staff towards people with intellectual disabilities.

The aim of this article is to present explicit and implicit attitudes of occupational therapy (OT) staff towards people with intellectual disabilities. The study was conducted on a group of 77 OT employees. To explore the explicit attitude, the Conditional Respect for Persons with Disabilities Questionnaire (Kurtek, Roczniki Psychologiczne, 2018, 4, 327-344) was used, while to estimate the implicit attitude, the Intellectual Disability Attitudes Implicit Association Test was applied (Kurtek, Roczniki Psychologiczne, 2021, 1, 43-64). At the explicit level, OT staff tended to tolerate negative and overrate positive behaviours of people with intellectual disabilities, which indicates a tendency to favour the individuals. However, the opposite devalorizing tendency was observed at the implicit dimension, which indicates aversive ableism. Although the study confirmed the independence of the two dimensions of the personnel's attitude, relationships were observed between the disclosure of negativity towards antagonistic behaviours of the people with intellectual disabilities and a decrease in the level of their implicit devaluation.

Local Legislation is Associated With Regional Transgender Attitudes.

Using a newly developed measure of implicit transgender attitudes, we investigate the association between state-level antitransgender policies and individual-level attitudes about transgender people among residents. In a large sample of U.S. participants (N = 211,133), we find that individuals living in states with more discriminatory policies against transgender people (e.g., not allowing changes to one's gender identity on official identity papers) exhibited more negative implicit and explicit transgender attitudes. This pattern held after controlling for participant race and gender, as well as when looking only at cisgender participants. These findings extend prior work concerning how intergroup biases relate to regional characteristics such as legislation and do so in a novel and consequential context. This research also informs ongoing work concerning the role of policy-making and social norms on the development and expression of intergroup prejudice.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Towards Artificial Agents.

Historically, there has been a great deal of confusion in the literature regarding cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards artificial agents and preferences for their physical appearance. Previous studies have almost exclusively assessed attitudes using self-report measures (i.e., questionnaires). In the present study, we sought to expand our knowledge on the influence of cultural background on explicit and implicit attitudes towards robots and avatars. Using the Negative Attitudes Towards Robots Scale and the Implicit Association Test in a Japanese and Dutch sample, we investigated the effect of culture and robots' body types on explicit and implicit attitudes across two experiments (total n = 669). Partly overlapping with our hypothesis, we found that Japanese individuals had a more positive explicit attitude towards robots compared to Dutch individuals, but no evidence of such a difference was found at the implicit level. As predicted, the implicit preference towards humans was moderate in both cultural groups, but in contrast to what we expected, neither culture nor robot embodiment influenced this preference. These results suggest that only at the explicit but not implicit level, cultural differences appear in attitudes towards robots. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12369-022-00917-7.

You and me versus the rest of the world: the effects of affiliative motivation and ingroup partner status on social tuning.

Bandura argues that individuals are more likely to engage in social learning when they identify with a social model and when they are motivated or rewarded. Therefore, in the present work, we investigate how these two key factors, perceived similarity and affiliative motivation, influence the extent to which individuals engage in social tuning or align their views with an interaction partner-especially if their partner's attitudes differ from the larger social group. Experiment 1 (170 participants) explored the role of perceived similarity through group membership when needing to work collaboratively with a collaboration partner whose climate change beliefs differed from a larger social group. Experiment 2 (115 participants) directly manipulated affiliative motivation (i.e., length of interaction time) along with perceived similarity (i.e., Greek Life membership) to explore if these factors influenced social tuning of drinking attitudes and behaviors. Experiments 3 (69 participants) and 4 (93 participants) replicated Experiment 2 and examined whether tuning occurred for explicit and implicit attitudes towards weight (negative views Experiment 3 and positive views Experiment 4). Results indicate that when individuals experience high affiliative motivation, they are more likely to engage in social tuning of explicit and implicit attitudes when their interaction partner belongs to their ingroup rather than their outgroup. These findings are consistent with the tenets of Social Learning Theory, Shared Reality Theory, and the affiliative social tuning hypothesis.

Contact with grandparents and young people's explicit and implicit attitudes toward older adults.

BACKGROUND: Given the dramatic rise in population aging and widespread negative attitudes toward older people, it is necessary to understand the factors that affect age-related attitudes among young people in order to improve intergenerational solidarity and reduce ageism. The current study examined young people's contact with their grandparents and attitudes toward older people on both explicit and implicit levels. METHOD: The sample included 146 Chinese college students (Mage = 21.50 yrs, SD = 2.23, 101 females). Participants completed a questionnaire concerning contact with their grandparents(contact quantity and contact quality), perceived typicality of their grandparents, intergroup anxiety, inclusion of other in the self, and explicit attitudes toward older people (aged 65 years or older) in general. Participants were also invited to complete a single-category implicit association test (SC-IAT) to assess their implicit attitudes toward older people. RESULTS: The findings indicated that both quantity and quality of contact with grandparents predicted better explicit attitudes toward older people, and contact effects were stronger when one's grandparents were perceived as being typical of older adults. Contact quantity (not quality) was associated with more favorable implicit attitudes only when one's grandparents were perceived as highly typical older adults. Contact effects on explicit attitudes were mediated by intergroup anxiety and inclusion of other in the self. CONCLUSION: Our findings on the positive effects of contact with grandparents underscore the importance of promoting intergenerational contact within the family as a starting point to reduce prejudice toward older adults in age-segregated modern societies. Current results also provide insights on how to extend the benefits of grandparent-grandchild contact outside the family by promoting the perceived typicality of one's grandparents.

Ego depletion and implicit and explicit determinants of condom use intentions: an experimental study among young men.

BACKGROUND: The Reflective Impulsive Model of Strack and Deutsch (2004) is a dual-process model and could be a dynamic theoretical framework of sexual risk behavior that is able to predict condom use under different circumstances. If we apply the Reflective Impulsive Model to sexual risk behavior, implicit attitudes regarding sexual risk behavior should have a stronger impact on behavior when working memory capacity is low. Explicit attitudes have a strong impact on intentions, which diminishes as participants have less working memory capacity. METHODS: In this study, we induced a state of ego depletion to examine the impact of low working memory capacity on implicit and explicit attitudes and condom use intentions. Young, male participants ( N = 66) were randomly assigned to either an ego depletion condition (difficult calculus task) or a placebo condition (easy calculus task). At baseline, a questionnaire measuring explicit attitudes and intentions to use a condom, and an Implicit Association Test measuring implicit attitudes towards condoms were administered. After the ego calculus task, participants once more completed the questionnaire and Implicit Association Test. RESULTS: We found no evidence that ego depletion had an effect on intentions to use a condom in young men. Explicit attitudes predicted intentions to use a condom, regardless of participants' state. We found no relationship between implicit condom attitudes and intentions to use a condom, neither in the ego depletion nor in the placebo condition. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of this null finding are discussed.

Enjoy exercise more: The effects of dual-channel evaluative conditioning on implicit attitudes toward exercise.

Researchers have been looking for effective interventions to promote physical activity due to its great impact on both physical and mental health. In two studies, the current research investigated (1) whether evaluative conditioning could increase implicit attitudes toward exercise; (2) whether dual-channel evaluative conditioning had a greater influence compared to single-channel evaluative conditioning. In Study 1, results from 32 participants (7 males, 25 females; Mage = 19.470, SDage = 1.174) were used to compare the audiovisual dual-channel with the visual single-channel evaluative conditioning. In Study 2, we analyzed data from 100 participants (35 males, 65 females; Mage = 20.990, SDage = 3.141) and compared the visual-kinesthetic dual-channel with the visual single-channel evaluative conditioning. The results showed that individuals' implicit attitudes toward exercise were more positively affected by dual-channel than single-channel evaluative conditioning.

Implicit Assessment of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: Group Differences in Temporal Stability of the Self-Injury Implicit Association Test (SI-IAT).

OBJECTIVE: We examine differences on the Self-Injury Implicit Association Test (SI-IAT) by history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), in a test-retest design, to examine short-term temporal stability of SI-IAT scores. METHOD: Treatment-seeking participants (N = 113; 58% female; 89% White; Mage = 30.57) completed the SI-IAT and self-report measures at two time points (MTimeframe = 3.8 days). RESULTS: Data suggested NSSI (51% of the sample endorsed lifetime NSSI) was related to Time 1 (T1) identity and attitude, and affected stability of scores. T1 and T2 SI-IAT identity and attitude were more strongly related for participants with NSSI history. NSSI characteristics (recency; number of methods) affected stability. CONCLUSIONS: The short-term test-retest reliability of the SI-IAT is strong among those with NSSI history from T1 to T2. However, the SI-IATs use with participants without a history of NSSI was not supported beyond its established ability to differentiate between groups by NSSI history. This test may provide clinically-relevant assessment among those with a history of NSSI.

Participants with vs. without NSSI history respond differently on the SI-IATTemporal stability of SI-IAT performance is strong in a short timeframeResults supported the test-retest reliability of the SI-IAT in the target group.

Disentangling Gender-Based Attitudes from Sexuality-Based Attitude: The Person-Based Approach to Measuring Implicit Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbian Women.

In this paper, we present the person-based approach to measuring implicit attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women-this approach uses face stimuli rather than traditionally used symbols, and creates salient social categories through contextual variation techniques. Across 5 experiments using the Go/No Go Association Task (n = 364), we present evidence that the person-based approach can disentangle implicit gender-based attitudes from implicit sexuality-based attitudes, that these attitudes vary as a function of participant gender and sexuality, and that they are different to attitudes elicited by typically used stimuli. We demonstrate that implicit person-based gender attitudes toward straight and gay people are similar and are consistent with the literature (i.e. attitudes toward [lesbian] women are more positive than attitudes toward [gay] men). However, we reveal a reversed pattern of findings for person-based implicit sexuality attitudes (i.e. attitudes toward gay men are more positive than attitudes toward lesbian women). These findings suggest that the person-based approach uniquely captures nuanced implicit attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, raising important questions regarding previous findings.

Predicting implicit attitudes with natural language data.

Large-scale language datasets and advances in natural language processing offer opportunities for studying people's cognitions and behaviors. We show how representations derived from language can be combined with laboratory-based word norms to predict implicit attitudes for diverse concepts. Our approach achieves substantially higher correlations than existing methods. We also show that our approach is more predictive of implicit attitudes than are explicit attitudes, and that it captures variance in implicit attitudes that is largely unexplained by explicit attitudes. Overall, our results shed light on how implicit attitudes can be measured by combining standard psychological data with large-scale language data. In doing so, we pave the way for highly accurate computational modeling of what people think and feel about the world around them.

Explicit and implicit: Ableism of disability professionals.

BACKGROUND: People who work with disabled people or whose work is about disability - disability professionals - often have direct power over disabled people and can impact their lives immensely; they also have a role in creating and institutionalizing knowledge about disability. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) disability attitudes of disability professionals. METHODS: Between October 2021 and February 2023, disability professionals (n = 417) completed the Symbolic Ableism Scale (SAS) and the Disability Attitudes Implicit Association Test (DA-IAT). We had the following research questions: (1.) What are disability professionals' explicit attitudes towards disability? (2.) What are disability professionals' implicit attitudes towards disability? (3.) What is the relationship between disability professionals' explicit and implicit disability attitudes? and (4.) What sociodemographic factors correlate with disability professionals' explicit and implicit disability attitudes? We examined these questions using descriptive statistics, t-tests, a two-dimensional model of prejudice, and linear regression models. RESULTS: In our sample, 77.24% of disability professionals preferred nondisabled people explicitly and 82.03% implicitly. Most commonly, disability professionals were symbolic ableists (37.8%). Race, political orientation, and job type correlated with disability professionals' explicit attitudes, while disability, gender, and job type correlated with their implicit attitudes. CONCLUSIONS: Ableism cannot be eradicated until disability professionals look inward and rid themselves of negative attitudes; until that occurs, disability professionals will continue to do a disservice to the very people they have dedicated their careers to - disabled people.

A 3D framework of implicit attitude change.

According to early theories, implicit (automatic) social attitudes are difficult if not impossible to change. Although this view has recently been challenged by research relying on experimental, developmental, and cultural approaches, relevant work remains siloed across research communities. As such, the time is ripe to systematize and integrate disparate (and seemingly contradictory) findings and to identify gaps in existing knowledge. To this end, we introduce a 3D framework classifying research on implicit attitude change by levels of analysis (individual vs. collective), sources of change (experimental, ontogenetic, and cultural), and timescales (short term vs. long term). This 3D framework highlights where evidence for implicit attitude change is more versus less well established and pinpoints directions for future research, including at the intersection of fields.

Weight bias and stigma in healthcare professionals: a narrative review with a Singapore lens.

Addressing weight stigma is essential to obesity management as it causes inequalities in healthcare and impacts the outcomes of health. This narrative review summarises systematic review findings about the presence of weight bias in healthcare professionals, and interventions to reduce weight bias or stigma in these professionals. Two databases (PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature [CINAHL]) were searched. Seven eligible reviews were identified from 872 search results. Four reviews identified the presence of weight bias, and three investigated trials to reduce weight bias or stigma in healthcare professionals. The findings may help further research and the treatment, health and well-being of individuals with overweight or obesity in Singapore. Weight bias was prevalent among qualified and student healthcare professionals globally, and there is a lack of clear guidance for effective interventions to reduce it, particularly in Asia. Future research is essential to identify the issues and inform initiatives to reduce weight bias and stigma among healthcare professionals in Singapore.

Implicit Metaethical Intuitions: Validating and Employing a New IAT Procedure.

Philosophical arguments often assume that the folk tends towards moral objectivism. Although recent psychological studies have indicated that lay persons' attitudes to morality are best characterized in terms of non-objectivism-leaning pluralism, it has been maintained that the folk may be committed to moral objectivism implicitly. Since the studies conducted so far almost exclusively assessed subjects' metaethical attitudes via explicit cognitions, the strength of this rebuttal remains unclear. The current study attempts to test the folk's implicit metaethical commitments. We present results of a newly developed Implicit Association Test (IAT) for metaethical attitudes which indicate that the folk generally tend towards moral non-objectivism on the implicit level as well. We discuss implications of this finding for the philosophical debate.

The effects of perspective taking primes on the social tuning of explicit and implicit views toward gender and race.

The current research aims to investigate whether perspective taking influences social tuning, or the alignment of one's self-views, explicit attitudes, and/or implicit attitudes with those of an interaction partner. In six different experiments, participants believed they would interact with a partner to complete a task. Prior to this ostensible interaction, participants were given a perspective taking mindset prime, or not, and information about their ostensible interaction partners views. Participants then completed attitude measures related to the partner's perceived views. Experiments 1a, 1b, and 2 examined whether perspective taking with an ostensible interaction partner who endorses gender traditional (or non-traditional) views align their self-views with this partner, including implicit self-views (Experiment 2). Experiments 3-5 investigated whether perspective taking leads to social tuning for egalitarian racial attitudes, including when the partner's expectations of how others will be and when the participant learns their ostensible IAT score at the beginning of the session. We predicted perspective takers would be more likely to social tune their explicit and implicit attitudes to the attitudes of their interaction partner than non-perspective takers. Across all experiments, perspective takers were more likely to social tune their self-views and explicit attitudes than non-perspective takers. However, social tuning never occurred for implicit attitudes. Thus, future research is needed to understand why perspective taking does not influence the tuning of implicit attitudes, but other motivations, like affiliative and epistemic, do.

Clinicians' implicit and explicit attitudes about the legitimacy of functional neurological disorders correlate with referral decisions.

OBJECTIVES: Uncertainty regarding the legitimacy of functional neurological disorder (FND) remains among some health care professionals. Despite treatment guidelines and consensus recommendations, variability in clinical practice referral decisions persists. Evidence from other conditions suggests such clinical decision making is impacted by practitioners' implicit and explicit attitudes. We aimed to identify whether health care professionals hold implicit and/or explicit attitudes about the legitimacy of FND and whether these attitudes are associated with referral decision making. DESIGN/METHODS: We included 66 health care professionals who work with people with neurological conditions: n = 37 medical doctors, mainly neurologists (n = 18) and psychiatrists (n = 10), and n = 29 doctoral level practitioner psychologists. Participants completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT), Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), a referral decision-making vignette task and self-report measures of explicit attitudes on FND-legitimacy, therapeutic optimism and clinician confidence. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) was used as a comparator condition. RESULTS: Participants self-reported strong explicit FND-legitimate and MS-legitimate attitudes but demonstrated an implicit FND-illegitimate/MS-legitimate bias. Deeper examination provided by the IRAP data indicated pro-FND-legitimate attitudes, but no bias for or against FND-illegitimate-contrasting the pro-MS-legitimate, anti-MS-illegitimate attitudes for the comparator condition. Attitudes about FND-illegitimacy were negatively associated with likelihood of referral to physical interventions such as physiotherapy. Medical doctors had lower treatment optimism and stronger explicit attitudes that FND is illegitimate than psychologists. CONCLUSIONS: At an implicit level, clinicians are uncertain about the illegitimacy of FND, and such attitudes are associated with lower likelihood of referral to physiotherapy in particular. Improved education on FND among health care professionals is indicated.

Can an Aging Leopard Change Its Spots? The Role of Mindset of Aging on Implicit and Explicit Attitudes in Older Adults.

Growth mindset of aging (MA) refers to the belief that aging processes are malleable, while fixed MA is the belief that how one ages is predetermined and unchangeable. Using experimental methods, we manipulated MA and explored its impact on implicit old-age attitudes and self-perceptions of aging. Eighty-six older adults were randomly placed into a growth or fixed MA condition. Next, we assessed implicit old-age attitudes and self-perceptions of aging. The experimental manipulation was successful in that group MA scores differed, but MA did not significantly influence implicit old-age attitudes or self-perceptions of aging. However, a regression analysis revealed a novel finding: More growth MA was related to less negative implicit old-age attitudes and more positive self-perceptions of aging. These findings are an important contribution to the MA literature, which is in its infancy.

Effects of intergroup contact on explicit and implicit outgroup attitudes: A longitudinal field study with majority and minority group members.

A longitudinal field study tested the long-term effects (three years) of intergroup contact on both explicit and implicit outgroup attitudes. Participants were majority (Italian) and minority (immigrant) high-school students, who were tested at four waves from the beginning of their first year in high-school to the end of the third school year. Results revealed, first, a longitudinal association of quantity (but not quality) of contact with lower intergroup anxiety and more positive explicit attitudes, as well as bidirectional effects over time between explicit attitudes and intergroup anxiety, on the one hand, and quantity and quality of contact, on the other. Second, reduced intergroup anxiety mediated the association between quantity of contact and improved explicit attitudes over time. Third, the product of quantity and quality of contact longitudinally predicted more positive implicit outgroup attitudes over school years. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of findings.