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The Implicit Association Test As a Measure of Implicit Consumer Polish Psychological Bulletin 2001;32(1):DOI://10.1066/S10012010002 ORIGINAL PAPER © Blackhorse Publishing, 2001 Dominika Maison, Anthony G. Greenwald, The Implicit Association Test as a measure of Ralph Bruin implicit consumer attitudes D. Maison ✉, Abstract This article reports two experi- explicit measures of attitudes and Department of Psychology ments that sought to determine if the behavior toward these product University of Warsaw Implicit Association Test (IAT; categories. The second experiment 5/7 Stawki Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998), investigated implicit attitudes of female PL–00183 Warsaw a method for assessing strengths of Ss toward low calorie products and high Poland automatic associations, can be applied calorie products. The IAT attitude to measure consumer attitudes. The first measure correlated with dieting activity: Tel.: +48 22 / 531 78 27 experiment compared implicit attitudes Ss who had eating habits restricting high Fax: +48 22 / 831 91 93 toward juices and sodas. Analysis calorie food intake showed implicit [email protected] revealed significant correlation between attitudes favoring low calorie products. IAT-measured implicit attitudes and A. G. Greenwald Department of Psychology University of Washington Box 351525 207 Guthrie Seattle, WA 98195–1525 USA Tel.: +1 206 / 543 7227 Fax: +1 206 / 685 3157 [email protected] R. Bruin Medical Data Management 1 Sengera Cichego PL–02790 Warsaw Poland Tel.: +48 22 / 645 77 33 [email protected] Received: 07.11.2000 Accepted: 18.01.2001 a000000000 One method of researching automatic processes that has Introduction become very popular over the last 5 years is the Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al. 1998; Dasgupta, During the last 20 years, social psychologists have in- McGhee, Greenwald, Banaji, 2000; Brendl, Markman, creasingly appealed to automatic processes (Greenwald & Messner, 2001). The method consists of doing a compu- Banaji, 1995; Bargh, 1996; Pratto, 1994; Bargh, Chaiken, terized categorization task. The task lets Ss categorize stimuli Govender & Pratto, 1992; Bargh, 1989) in understanding into four different categories: two contrasted target concept social judgment and behavior. Associated with this trend is categories (in the study of Greenwald et al., 1998, experiment the increasing use of reaction time as an indicator of 1, flowers and insects), and two contrasted attribute automatic or implicit processes (Bargh, 1996; Zarate & categories (pleasant and unpleasant). The categorization Smith, 1990; Lalonde & Gardner, 1989; Fazio, Sanbon- task consists of presenting the Ss with a stimulus which the matsu, Powell & Kardes, 1986; Gaertner & McLaughlin, Ss are to categorize quickly in one of two groups (presented 1983). as labels on the left and on the right of the computer screen). 2 Each of these two groups represents one target concept them. So far, applied researchers have attempted to develop category and one attribute category. Ss categorize the stimuli qualitative techniques in order to study the issues that are by pressing a key on the left (corresponding with the labels beyond consumers’ consciousness; especially the so called on the left side of the screen) or on the right side (correspon- “projective techniques”, such as antropomorphization, ani- ding with the labels on the right side of the screen) of a com- malization, sentence completion (Hussey & Duncombe, puter keyboard. After completing a categorization task with 1999; Greenbaum, 1993; Branthwaite & Lunn, 1985). only two categories, Ss conduct a combined categorization Despite their popularity in commercial research, these quali- task (consisted of 4 categories: attribute category and target tative projective techniques are generally not accepted in concept category together). This task is done two times: once academic research, mostly because of their qualitative na- when the first concept category is paired with positive ture and the subjectivity of their analysis. attributes and the second category with negative, and once as a reversed task, when the first concept category is paired In contrast, academic consumer psychologists have chosen with negative attributes and the second category with positive. the other way, i.e., to develop quantitative techniques, which In this manner, Ss make categorizations in which both target are supposed to be less sensitive to self-presentation bias concept categories are paired with both attribute categories. and/or can better research the consciousness of the consumer. Shorter reaction times for stimuli belonging to a target con- In the 70’s most attention was devoted to physiological cept category which is paired with positive attributes and measures (Bagozzi, 1991). Physiological measures were prolongation of the reaction time when this target concept mostly popular in the context of reactions to advertising. category is paired with negative attributes, is interpreted as Interest in physiological measures was based on the hope an indication of a more positive implicit attitude toward that they have a better potential to research the Ss’ “real at- this concept category than toward the other concept category titude”, and as a consequence would be more successful in with which it is tested. predicting consumer behavior. Though the first researches of consumer behavior using physiological measurements Automatic processes have most frequently been researched were done in the 1920’s, they are nowadays almost forgotten in the context of stereotypes and prejudice (Brauer, Wasel & because of (i) the complex and expensive instruments that Niedenthal, 2000; Greenwald et al., 1998; Greenwald & are required for them; and (ii) the difficulties and ambiguities Banaji, 1995: Zarate & Smith, 1990; Lalonde & Gardner, of the interpretation of their data. 1989). Thus far the IAT has been shown to be a very useful tool for research on automatic attitudes, especially in the In the two studies discussed in the present article, an attempt area of racial attitudes (Greenwald et al., 2000; Dasgupta was made to study implicit consumer attitudes with the use & Greenwald, 2000; Dasgupta et al., 2000; Maison & Bruin, of the IAT. Experiment 1 focused on product categories 1999). The present work introduces these techniques to toward which consumers can be expected to have “simple” marketing and consumer research. attitudes, that is, products for which there are no inherent to the product reasons to believe that consumers experience In the mid-20th century, marketing researchers assumed that some internal conflict or ambivalence toward the product consumers make choices consciously and rationally. In the (for example, a conflict between cognitive and affective com- 60’s, interest among psychologists in consumer behavior ponents of their attitudes toward the products). increased. It became clear that this assumption required modification because more evidence became available which In Experiment 2, the focus was on product categories for indicated that consumers’ behavior is not the consequence which more “complex” attitudes can be expected to exist, of entirely rational cognitive processes, especially where i.e., high and low calorie products. Attitudes toward high fast-moving-consumer-goods – fmcg – are concerned. It and low calorie products are characterized by a certain became evident that also emotions and unconscious motives ambivalence: on the one hand many people hold positive needed to be taken into consideration in understanding attitudes toward some aspects of both product categories responses to advertising and other aspects of consumer (e.g. taste in case of high-calorie products, and effect on choice. In the case of advertising, people are typically not body weight of low-calorie products), while at the same time aware of the extent to which advertising influences their they hold negative attitudes toward other aspects of such attitudes and behavior. Usually advertising increases brand products (e.g. taste in case of low-calorie products, and effects awareness and affects consumers’ brand images, which are on body weight in case of high-calorie products). beyond people’s conscious control, but only rarely is influencing conscious decisions to choose a certain advertised product (Shapiro, 1999). Brand image, in its turn, a000000000 has a tremendous impact on product perceptions: in Experiment 1 marketing researches where products are tried, it is often found that people have very different perception of product The objective of this experiment was to explore if the features (even such features as taste of coffee, strength of IAT could be applied to the study of consumer behavior. In beer, sweetness of juice etc.) depending on if the product is the study Ss were presented with a classification task in which tested “blind”, without being conscious which brand is they classified brands of juices or sodas in a standard IAT tested, or with the brand clearly displayed (Lannon, 1993). setup. In line with Greenwald et al. (1998 – experiments 2 and 3), it was assumed that when two sets of stimuli are In situations such as the one described above, self-reported categorized, in combination with positive and negative measures do typically not suffice as indicators of people’s words, the implicit attitude is more positive toward that brand images and product perceptions, and applied re- category where the shortest reaction times are obtained. For searchers as well as their academic counterparts are trying example, if an S would perform the
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