A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/96719 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Advancing the applicability of absolute implicit measures: Using the Simple Implicit Procedure (SIP) to measure responses to pathogen threats. by Brian O’Shea B.A., National University of Ireland, Galway, 2010 M.Sc., London School of Economics and Political Science, 2012 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology University of Warwick, Department of Psychology April, 2017 i Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... iv Declaration ............................................................................................................................ vi Inclusion of Published Work ............................................................................................... vii Summary ............................................................................................................................... ix Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... x Tables .................................................................................................................................... xi Figures................................................................................................................................ xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 2 Origins of research into implicit social cognition .................................................................. 3 Unobtrusive and indirect research methods ........................................................................... 5 Selective attention and implicit memory ............................................................................... 6 The development of implicit measures .................................................................................. 8 What is an implicit measure? ................................................................................................. 9 Limitations of existing implicit measures. ........................................................................... 11 Implicit and explicit correlations and predicting behaviour ................................................ 13 Theoretical basis of implicit measures ................................................................................. 16 Overview of the thesis ......................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Disease rates are associated with racial prejudice across the US and the world .... 21 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 22 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 23 Parasite stress theory (PST) ................................................................................................. 23 Present study ........................................................................................................................ 28 Study 1 (US) and Study 2 (World) ...................................................................................... 29 Method ............................................................................................................................. 29 Results .............................................................................................................................. 33 Study 3 ................................................................................................................................. 38 Method ............................................................................................................................. 38 Results .............................................................................................................................. 41 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 43 Chapter 3: Measuring implicit attitudes: A positive framing bias flaw in the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) ............................................................................... 46 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 47 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 48 Absolute vs. relative measures of implicit cognition ........................................................... 48 ii Framing effects and language biases ................................................................................... 53 Present study ........................................................................................................................ 55 Method ............................................................................................................................. 56 Results .............................................................................................................................. 62 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 70 Chapter 4: The Simple Implicit Procedure (SIP): A new method for measuring implicit cognition .................................................................................................................................. 78 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 79 Associative versus propositional measures of implicit cognition ........................................ 81 Limitations of the IRAP ....................................................................................................... 84 The Simple Implicit Procedure: SIP .................................................................................... 87 Overview of studies ............................................................................................................. 91 Study 1 ................................................................................................................................. 91 Method ............................................................................................................................. 94 Results ............................................................................................................................ 100 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 114 Study 2 ............................................................................................................................... 116 Method ........................................................................................................................... 117 Results ............................................................................................................................ 120 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 128 Study 3 ............................................................................................................................... 129 Method ........................................................................................................................... 131 Results ............................................................................................................................ 133 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 137 General discussion ............................................................................................................. 137 Chapter 5: Some words are more like pictures: Word type response biases in reaction time tasks........................................................................................................................................ 144 Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 145 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 146 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 147 Study 1 ..............................................................................................................................