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| Int'l Symposium - Explicating the Implicit: Using the Implicit Association Test in Behavior-Analytic Research |
| Monday, May 31, 2004 |
| 3:00 PM–4:20 PM |
| Beacon H |
| Area: CSE/EAB; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: . |
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| Unconscious Cognitions and the Implicit Association Test Reframed: A Behavioral Conceptual Model |
| MARIA R. RUIZ (Rollins College), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: Social psychologists, feminists and others concerned with racial discrimination, prejudice and other objectionable forms of social control have emphasized the subtle embeddedness of these in our verbal practices. Anthony Greenwald has suggested that racial preference/bias subtly embedded in verbal practices are evidence of unconscious cognitions, and he has created the Implicit Association Test to “measure” them. In his test, subjects are exposed to two-element compound stimuli consisting of a face (Caucasian or African American) and either a positive or negative word (love/hatred), and they are asked to categorize novel stimuli (faces and positive/negative words) accordingly. A significant proportion of subjects respond with greater accuracy when the positive word is combined with the “preferred” racial depiction. This effect (which we are referring to as the IAT effect) is said to illustrate racial preference (read racial bias). Our research presents an alternative behavioral model from which to consider the problem based on derived stimulus relations. |
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| Implicit Associations: Empirical Analysis of Explicit Learning Histories |
| ANGELA C. FLORIO (Rollins College), Maria R. Ruiz (Rollins College), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: We will present a behavioral model based on derived stimulus relations that seeks to clarify the role of learning history in the interesting pattern of responding reported by Anthony Greenwald and referred to here as the IAT effect. An empirical analysis of explicit learning histories sufficient to generate the IAT effect equivalent to that produced in Anthony Greenwald’s experimental preparations will be presented. In our behavioral model, four sets of individually acquired 3-member (nonsense syllables) equivalence classes associated with four colors are linked to form two separate superodinate (6-member) classes. These conditions model the race-word combinations in the Greenwald test. Categorization of novel stimuli with derived color functions replicate Greenwald’s IAT effect. Subjects categorize novel stimuli with derived color functions within superordinate classes with great accuracy, but consistently commit errors when categorizing these across superordinate classes. Implications of this research for understanding ‘implicit associations’ as explicit behavioral processes will be discussed. |
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| Acquisition and Generalization of I.A.T Performance |
| CHRISTEINE M. TERRY (University of Washington), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Maria R. Ruiz (Rollins College), Danielle Monahan (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) |
| Abstract: The current paper reports on a study designed to test predictions of a derived stimulus relations model of the Implicit Association Test (I.A.T). The derived stimulus relations model suggests that the I.A.T effect is based on subjects’ fluency with specific types of verbal relations, rather than on implicit attitudes or biases per se. In essence, the I.A.T involves matching stimuli that are or are not equivalent. If this idea is correct, then the I.A.T results should reflect subjects’ experience with the use of the terms in the test and their level of fluency at categorizing the words in a variety of different ways. The current study, therefore, examined this practice effect by measuring improvements in I.A.T performances across trials. The study also examined the generalization of the effect to equivalent stimuli, once fluency had been established. The results suggest that the I.A.T does not measure attitudinal bias but rather provides a description of the organisation of verbal relations in an individual’s verbal repertoire. |
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| Developing a Screening Test for Sex Offenders: An I.A.T-type Test for Derived Relational Responding |
| MARTINA O'RIORDAN (University College Cork, Ireland), Bryan T. Roche (National University of Ireland, Maynooth), Maria R. Ruiz (Rollins College) |
| Abstract: Behavioral psychologists working in the field of social categorization have begin to provide sensitive tools, based on the concept of derived stimulus relations, for the non-invasive assessment of behavioral patterns (e.g., McGlinchey, Keenan, & Dillenburger, 2000; Watt, Keenan, Barnes, & Cairns, 1991). These procedures come strikingly close conceptually to the core processes that appear to be at work in the Implicit Association Test (I.A.T). The current study will outline how the concept of derived stimulus relations has been used to develop a screening procedure for the assessment of paedophiles in the Irish prison system. The I.A.T-type procedure was used to examine differences in relational responding between contact sex-offenders against children, internet paedophiles, sex offenders against the adult, non sex-offender criminals, and a random sample from the general population. The results suggest that a behavioral model of the I.A.T may have potential for use as a preliminary screening procedure to distinguish between varieties of offenders. |
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