Implicit and Explicit

Attitudes

M. Borowik

S. Carroll

M. Cicero

J. Ellis

An Overview of Causal Factors Implicated in

Divergence of Attitude Measures

What are Attitudes, and How do we Form

Them?

Attitude - an individuals disposition, feeling, or evaluation towards an object, situation,

idea, or person.

According to the Classical Conditioning Theory, attitudes form through repeated

pairings of attitude objects (conditioned Stimulus) with positively or negatively

valenced stimuli (unconditioned Stimuli).

For example;

An obese person (conditioned stimulus) repeatedly portrayed as unmotivated (unconditioned

stimulus) is likely to facilitate formation of negative attitudes towards obese persons.

What is the Difference Between Implicit and

Explicit Attitudes

Explicit Attitude – A deliberate, controlled, and conscious appraisal process of an object and its evaluation (attitudes we can openly deliberate and communicate to others).

Self-report Inventories

Interview Questions

Implicit Attitude – An automatic, unconscious, and intuitive association between a attitude object and their evaluation (attitudes we are not aware of that are measured indirectly).

Physiological Indicators

Non-verbal Behaviour

Response Latency – The duration of time between presentation of stimulus and its evaluation.

Group Results

Table 1. Pooled Group Results for Bias Towards or Against Obese Persons Measured Using the Fat Phobia Scale

(Explicit Measure) and Implicit Attitudes Test (Implicit Measure).

Fat Phobia Scale

IAT Bias Towards Obese No Bias Bias Against Obese

(Implicit Measure) (Score of 2 or Less) (Score of 3) (Score of 4 or More)

Bias Towards Obese Persons

(Preference for Fat People

Compared to Thin People)

0 0 0

No Bias (No Preference) 0 0 0

Bias Against Obese Persons

(Preference for Thin People

Compared to Fat People)

0 4 0

N=4

Aetiology of Explicit and Implicit Attitudes

Early Experiences

Stemming form past and present experiences.

Affective Experiences

Mediated by biological underpinnings.

Cultural Biases

Influenced by our own cultural milieu.

Cognitive Principles

Shaped by our inate need for consistency.

Early Experiences

Implicit attitudes stem from early, and largely forgotten experiences with an attitude

object.

Smokers early experiences with cigarettes tended to co-vary with their implicit attitudes.

Persons raised primarily by their mothers tend to have an implicit preference towards women.

Women with implicit preferences for chivalry tended to show less interest in power,

economics, and education.

Explicit attitudes stem from more recent, and accessible events.

Smokers recent experiences with cigarettes tend to co-vary with their self-reported attitudes

towards smoking.

An explicit attitude towards a parent does not predict who the primary caretaker was.

Women's explicit fantasies towards chivalry do not predict interest towards power,

economics, and education.

Affective Experiences – Different Pathways

Implicit attitudes are associated with activation in the amygdala, and tend to be more sensitive towards affective experiences.

Implicit attitudes form through automatic reactions to stimuli.

Are influenced by affective priming.

Changes in implicit attitudes are linked to emotional-based predictors (i.e quality of interaction with an attitude object).

Mental imagining of attitude objects can alter its implicit association.

Explicit attitudes are associated with activation in the frontal lobes, and are more cognitively controlled.

Change in explicit attitudes is associated with increased awareness and desire to change one’s attitude.

Change of explicit attitudes depends on cognitive and motivational factors.

Explicit attitudes tend not to be influenced by affective priming.

Cultural Biases

Societal evaluations influence implicit in-group attitudes

Systematic, culturally held appraisal can bias peoples automatic attitudes irrespective of their self-reported attitude.

People exhibit greater implicit in-group bias to the extent they are immersed in their cultural heritage.

Minorities unconsciously rationalise their lower status by internalising societies negative attitude towards their group (i.e poor and overweight people tend to show an implicit preference for rich and thin out-group members)

Cultural In-group bias tends not to influence explicit attitudes

The link between cultural influence and attitudes is less apparent when using self-report measures of attitudes (i.e extent of cultural immersion tends not to predict explicit in-group bias).

Explicit in-group bias in minorities tends to be unrelated to their status.

Cognitive Consistency Principles

Implicit Attitudes;

People tend to prefer consonant evaluations of relative attitude objects (i.e If I am good and I

am thin, than thin is also good).

Cultural groups who showed high self-esteem, and who identified with their cultural group

also tended to implicitly prefer their cultural group.

Explicit Attitudes;

Cognitive consistency principles measured using self-reports tended not to conform to self

concepts.

Persons who associate themselves with ‘warmth’ or ‘power’ tended not to explicitly associate

‘warmth’ or ‘power’ with their own gender.