Tobias Gschwendner

Bio: Tobias Gschwendner is an academic researcher from University of Koblenz and Landau. The author has contributed to research in topics: Implicit attitude & Implicit-association test. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 18 publications receiving 2457 citations.

A Meta-Analysis on the Correlation Between the Implicit Association Test and Explicit Self-Report Measures

Abstract: Theoretically, low correlations between implicit and explicit measures can be due to (a) motivational biases in explicit self reports, (b) lack of introspective access to implicitly assessed representations, (c) factors influencing the retrieval of information from memory, (d) method-related characteristics of the two measures, or (e) complete independence of the underlying constructs. The present study addressed these questions from a meta-analytic perspective, investigating the correlation between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit self-report measures. Based on a sample of 126 studies, the mean effect size was .24, with approximately half of the variability across correlations attributable to moderator variables. Correlations systematically increased as a function of (a) increasing spontaneity of self-reports and (b) increasing conceptual correspondence between measures. These results suggest that implicit and explicit measures are generally related but that higher order inferences and lack of conceptual correspondence can reduce the influence of automatic associations on explicit self-reports.

Working memory capacity and self-regulatory behavior: Toward an individual differences perspective on behavior determination by automatic versus controlled processes

Abstract: In the present research, the authors investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relative influence of automatic versus controlled precursors on self-regulatory behavior. In 2 studies, on sexual interest behavior (Study 1) and the consumption of tempting food (Study 2), automatic attitudes toward the temptation of interest had a stronger influence on behavior for individuals who scored low rather than high in working memory capacity. Analogous results emerged in Study 3 on anger expression in a provoking situation when a measure of the automatic personality trait of angriness was employed. Conversely, controlled dispositions such as explicit attitudes (Study 1) and self-regulatory goals (Studies 2 and 3) were more effective in guiding behavior for participants who scored high rather than low in working memory capacity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior.

What moderates implicit—explicit consistency?

Abstract: Implicit and explicit indicators of attitudes or personality traits are positively, and variably, related. This review places the question of implicit ‐ explicit consistency into the tradition of attitude/trait ‐ behaviour consistency (e.g., Wicker, 1969). Drawing on dual-process models, such as the recent distinction between associative and propositional representations (Strack & Deutsch, 2004), we identify a working model of implicit ‐ explicit consistency that organises the empirical evidence on implicit ‐ explicit moderation into five factors: translation between implicit and explicit representations (e.g., representational strength, awareness), additional information integration for explicit representations (e.g., need for cognition), properties of explicit assessment (e.g., social desirability concerns), properties of implicit assessment (e.g., situational malleability), and research design factors (e.g., sampling bias, measurement correspondence).

Implicit and Explicit Attitudes and Interracial Interaction: The Moderating Role of Situationally Available Control Resources

Abstract: The present research examined whether implicit and explicit racial attitudes predict interracial interaction behavior differently as a function of situationally available control resources. Specifically, we investigated how implicit attitudes (Implicit Association Test) and explicit attitudes (Blatant/Subtle prejudice) were related to interracial interaction behaviors of Italians toward an African interviewer (Study 1) and of Germans toward a Turkish interviewer (Study 2). For half of the interview questions, participants' control resources were reduced via a memory task. Across both studies, the Race IAT was more predictive of behavior when participants were taxed than when untaxed. Conversely, explicit attitudes were somewhat more predictive under full resources. Taken together, our findings suggest that available control resources moderate the predictive validity of implicit and explicit attitudes.

On implicit–explicit consistency: the moderating role of individual differences in awareness and adjustment

Abstract: A moderated process model is presented that attempts to explain the consistency between implicit and explicit indicators as a function of awareness, i.e. the degree to which persons become aware of their implicit attitude, and adjustment, i.e. the degree to which they adjust for the explicit response. In two experiments on attitudes of West Germans toward East Germans and Turks, a number of dispositional moderators pertaining to awareness and adjustment were tested. Concerning moderators affecting awareness, no reliable first-order effects were found for Private Self-Consciousness or Attitudinal Self-Knowledge. However, Attitude Importance generated the expected effect. Concerning moderators influencing adjustment, consistent effects were obtained for Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions. Social Desirability and Self-Monitoring did not moderate the implicit–explicit relationship in the expected direction. Some evidence was found for a second-order moderator effect between awareness and adjustment, suggesting that adjustment effects may be more pronounced under conditions of high awareness. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The WEIRDest People in the World

Abstract: Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior in the world's top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. Researchers - often implicitly - assume that either there is little variation across human populations, or that these "standard subjects" are as representative of the species as any other population. Are these assumptions justified? Here, our review of the comparative database from across the behavioral sciences suggests both that there is substantial variability in experimental results across populations and that WEIRD subjects are particularly unusual compared with the rest of the species - frequent outliers. The domains reviewed include visual perception, fairness, cooperation, spatial reasoning, categorization and inferential induction, moral reasoning, reasoning styles, self-concepts and related motivations, and the heritability of IQ. The findings suggest that members of WEIRD societies, including young children, are among the least representative populations one could find for generalizing about humans. Many of these findings involve domains that are associated with fundamental aspects of psychology, motivation, and behavior - hence, there are no obvious a priori grounds for claiming that a particular behavioral phenomenon is universal based on sampling from a single subpopulation. Overall, these empirical patterns suggests that we need to be less cavalier in addressing questions of human nature on the basis of data drawn from this particularly thin, and rather unusual, slice of humanity. We close by proposing ways to structurally re-organize the behavioral sciences to best tackle these challenges.

Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: III. Meta-analysis of predictive validity.

Abstract: This review of 122 research reports (184 independent samples, 14,900 subjects) found average r = .274 for prediction of behavioral, judgment, and physiological measures by Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures. Parallel explicit (i.e., self-report) measures, available in 156 of these samples (13,068 subjects), also predicted effectively (average r = .361), but with much greater variability of effect size. Predictive validity of self-report was impaired for socially sensitive topics, for which impression management may distort self-report responses. For 32 samples with criterion measures involving Black-White interracial behavior, predictive validity of IAT measures significantly exceeded that of self-report measures. Both IAT and self-report measures displayed incremental validity, with each measure predicting criterion variance beyond that predicted by the other. The more highly IAT and self-report measures were intercorrelated, the greater was the predictive validity of each.

Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: An integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change.

Abstract: A central theme in recent research on attitudes is the distinction between deliberate, "explicit" attitudes and automatic, "implicit" attitudes. The present article provides an integrative review of the available evidence on implicit and explicit attitude change that is guided by a distinction between associative and propositional processes. Whereas associative processes are characterized by mere activation independent of subjective truth or falsity, propositional reasoning is concerned with the validation of evaluations and beliefs. The proposed associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model makes specific assumptions about the mutual interplay of the 2 processes, implying several mechanisms that lead to symmetric or asymmetric changes in implicit and explicit attitudes. The model integrates a broad range of empirical evidence and implies several new predictions for implicit and explicit attitude change.

A Meta-Analysis on the Correlation Between the Implicit Association Test and Explicit Self-Report Measures

Abstract: Theoretically, low correlations between implicit and explicit measures can be due to (a) motivational biases in explicit self reports, (b) lack of introspective access to implicitly assessed representations, (c) factors influencing the retrieval of information from memory, (d) method-related characteristics of the two measures, or (e) complete independence of the underlying constructs. The present study addressed these questions from a meta-analytic perspective, investigating the correlation between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and explicit self-report measures. Based on a sample of 126 studies, the mean effect size was .24, with approximately half of the variability across correlations attributable to moderator variables. Correlations systematically increased as a function of (a) increasing spontaneity of self-reports and (b) increasing conceptual correspondence between measures. These results suggest that implicit and explicit measures are generally related but that higher order inferences and lack of conceptual correspondence can reduce the influence of automatic associations on explicit self-reports.