NCJ Number
198032
Journal
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 115-133
Date Published
June 2002
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article presents an overview of the available literature on the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which assesses dysfunctional beliefs and associations found in various forms of psychopathology, and assesses its usefulness as a tool for clinically oriented research.
Abstract
Cognitive therapists generally accept that various forms of psychopathology depend on the existence of dysfunctional beliefs or cognitive structures. These beliefs are often described as being implicit, in the sense that patients might not be aware they have them and/or that they can influence behavior in an automatic manner. Traditionally, questionnaires and other self-report measures have been used to identify and assess such beliefs. The IAT, which was developed only recently by Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz (1998), has already been used as a tool to study various forms of psychopathology such as social anxiety, animal phobias, and depression. The IAT promises to provide a way to directly tap into the cognitive structures (i.e., associations between concepts) that are assumed to have a crucial role in psychopathology. The IAT circumvents problems of self-deception that tend to undermine the reliability of self-report questionnaires. Recent evidence summarized in this article clearly shows that IAT effects are meaningfully related to real-life behavior. Although this strongly suggests that IAT effects are a valid indication of associations between concepts, it could be argued that IAT effects are predictive, not because they measure association, but because they measure the salience of concepts. Currently, however, there is little or no evidence to support this alternative explanation. Moreover, this explanation is at odds with findings that suggest IAT effects correlate with other indirect measures of associations in memory (i.e., attitudes). There is currently an explosion of research on the IAT and related tasks. This research should provide new revelations on the strengths and limitations of this tool. 43 references