The Implicit Association Test as a measure of implicit consumer attitudes

Abstract

This article reports two experiments that sought to determine if the Implicit Association Test (IAT: Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998), a method for assessing strengths of automatic associations, can be applied to measure consumer attitudes. The first experiment compared implicit attitudes toward juices and sodas. Analysis revealed significant correlation between IAT-measured implicit attitudes and explicit measures of attitudes and explicit measures of attitudes and behavior toward these product categories. The second experiment investigated implicit attitudes of female Ss toward low calorie products and high calorie products. The IAT attitude measure correlated with dieting activity: Ss who had eating habits restricting high calorie food intake showed implicit attitudes favoring low calorie products