Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department or Program
Psychology
Advisor
Drake, Chad
Abstract
The Implicit Associations Test (IAT) and the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) recently have been used to examine implicit attitudes (i.e., implicit bias). Although both methods attempt to assess implicit attitudes about two categorical stimuli (e.g., Black people and White people), the IRAP assesses attitudes toward each stimulus separately. Conversely, IAT procedures inherently produce a comparison between the two attitudes in an “oppositional” fashion (e.g., a pro-Black people:anti-White people attitude or a pro-White people:anti-Black people attitude). As IRAP data have demonstrated non-oppositional relationships for such attitudes (e.g., co-occurring pro-Black people and pro-White people attitudes), alternative experimental stimulus pairings may produce additional valuable information. In the proposed study, a relatively common set of experimental stimuli used in implicit attitude research (i.e., racial and evaluative stimuli) will be presented in both the standard IRAP (SIRAP) configuration and a new format hereafter designated as the orthogonal IRAP (OIRAP) condition. Self-report measures will also be administered to assess the individuals’ explicit attitudes about the IRAP stimuli and racial issues. Participants from an introductory psychology class research pool will be quasi-randomly assigned to one of four condition orders. Data will be analyzed to assess for reliability, order effects, and associations between IRAP scores and self-reports.