Implicit Association Test

Created by Dr. Martin Shapiro

Overview

• An implicit bias is when we have attitudes towards groups of people often related to stereotypes,  and we are mostly unaware that we hold these biases.  Implicit means below our conscious awareness. To learn more, see the video below. 

• These implicit biases could involve such individual differences as race, gender, sexuality, weight, religion, and political affiliation. 

• One way to test implicit bias is through the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which measures unconscious associations between the mental representation of objects, people, and words (Greenwald et al., 1998).

•  The IAT is one of the most widely used and cited tools for psychological research, especially in social, developmental, ethnic, and cognitive psychology.

• The IAT is also highly controversial as most people tend to show biases when taking the test even though they do not feel they have overt prejudices toward groups of people (Lopez, 2017; Azar, 2008). 

• In this activity lab, you will be linked to the "Project Implicit" website, where you will choose one or more Implicit Association Tests.   

Instructions

1. This is the link to Harvard University's Project Implicit Website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

2. Start by reading the Preliminary Information that discusses your rights as a participant in research and information about privacy. If you wish to continue, click on I wish to proceed at the bottom of the page. 

3. Project Implicit has an IAT test for many topics such as religion, gender - career, sexuality, transgender, race, disabilities, and several more. You may pick a topic that interests you or work with your instructor on choosing an IAT topic. 

4. Participate in an IAT. The data from your participation is used in research, so do your best. 

5. Your instructor may use this assignment for group or class discussions or projects. 

6. Because you may not wish to disclose the test you took or your results, the best way to prove you completed the assignment is to take a screenshot of the final page showing you've completed the IAT along with your results. 

7. Your specific results can be blacked out before submitting a proof-of-completion screenshot to your instructor (see the how-to video). 

Learn More