This meta-analysis evaluated theoretical predictions from balanced identity theory (BIT) and evaluated the validity of zero points of Implicit Association Test (IAT) and self-report measures used to test these predictions. Twenty-one researchers contributed individual subject data from 36 experiments (total N = 12,773) that used both explicit and implicit measures of the social–cognitive constructs. The meta-analysis confirmed predictions of BIT’s balance–congruity principle and simultaneously validated interpretation of the IAT’s zero point as indicating absence of preference between two attitude objects. Statistical power afforded by the sample size enabled the first confirmations of balance–congruity predictions with self-report measures. Beyond these empirical results, the meta-analysis introduced a within-study statistical test of the balance–congruity principle, finding that it had greater efficiency than the previous best method. The meta-analysis’s full data set has been publicly archived to enable further studies of interrelations among attitudes, stereotypes, and identities.
AbersonC. L.HealyM.RomeroV. (2000). Ingroup bias and self-esteem: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psycho-logy Review, 4, 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0402_04
2.
AbramsD.HoggM. A. (1988). Comments on the motivational status of self-esteem in social identity and intergroup discrimination. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18, 317–334. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420180403
3.
*AidmanE. V.CarrollS. M. (2003). Implicit individual differences: Relationships between implicit self-esteem, gender identity, and gender attitudes. European Journal of Personality, 17, 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.465
4.
*Ashburn-NardoL. (2010). The importance of implicit and explicit measures for understanding social stigma. Journal of Social Issues, 66, 508–520. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2010.01659.x
5.
AxtJ.LaiC. K. (2019). Reducing discrimination: A bias versus noise perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117, 26–49. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000153
6.
*BanajiM. R.GreenwaldA. G.RosierM. (1997, October). Implicit esteem: When collectives shape individuals [Paper presentation]. Preconference on Self, Toronto, ON, Canada.
7.
*BaronA. S. (2003). IAT response latencies and errors. Harvard University. [Unpublished raw data].
8.
BaronA. S.BanajiM. R. (2006). The development of implicit attitudes. Evidence of race evaluations from ages 6 and 10 and adulthood. Psychological Science, 17, 53–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01664.x
9.
BaumeisterR. F.CampbellJ. D.KruegerJ. I.VohsK. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, inter-personal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles?Psycho-logical Science in the Public Interest, 4, 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/1529-1006.01431
10.
BegganJ. K. (1992). On the social nature of nonsocial perception: The mere ownership effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 229–237. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.62.2.229
11.
BlantonH.JaccardJ.StrautsE.MitchellG.TetlockP. E. (2015). Toward a meaningful metric of implicit prejudice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, 1468–1481. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038379
12.
BossonJ. K.SwannW. B.Jr.PennebakerJ. W. (2000). Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: The blind men and the elephant revisited?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 631–643. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.4.631
13.
BuhrmesterM. D.BlantonH.SwannW. B.Jr. (2011). Implicit self-esteem: Nature, measurement, and a new way forward. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 365–385. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021341
14.
CadinuM. R.RothbartM. (1996). Self-anchoring and differentiation processes in the minimal group setting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 661–677. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.4.661
15.
CoferC. N.FoleyJ. P.Jr. (1942). Mediated generalization and the interpretation of verbal behavior: I. Prolegomena. Psychological Review, 49, 513–540. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0060856
16.
CooperL. A.RoterD. L.CarsonK. A.BeachM. C.SabinJ. A.GreenwaldA. G.InuiT. S. (2012). The associations of clinicians’ implicit attitudes about race with medical visit communication and patient ratings of interpersonal care. American Journal of Public Health, 102, 979–987. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300558
17.
CreemersD. H. M.ScholteR. H. J.EngelsR. C. M. E.PrinsteinM. J.WiersR. W. (2013). Damaged self-esteem is associated with internalizing problems. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, Article 152. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00152
18.
CritcherC. R.FergusonM. J. (2016). “Whether I like it or not, it’s important”: Implicit importance of means predicts self-regulatory persistence and success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 816–839. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000053
19.
CvencekD.GreenwaldA. G.MeltzoffA. N. (2012). Balanced identity theory: Review of evidence for implicit consistency in social cognition. In GawronskiB.StrackF. (Eds.), Cognitive consistency: A fundamental concept in social cognition (pp. 157–177). Guilford Press.
20.
*CvencekD.GreenwaldA. G.MeltzoffA. N. (2016). Implicit measures for preschool children confirm self-esteem’s role in maintaining a balanced identity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 62, 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2015.09.015
*CvencekD.MeltzoffA. N.KapurM. (2014). Cognitive consistency and math–gender stereotypes in Singaporean children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 117, 73–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2013.07.018
23.
CvencekD.NasirN. S.O’ConnorK.WischniaS.MeltzoffA. N. (2015). The development of math–race stereotypes: “They say Chinese people are the best at math.”Journal of Research on Adolescence, 25, 630–637. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12151
24.
*DevosT.BlancoK.MuñozC.DunnR.UlloaE. C. (2008). Implicit orientation toward family and school among bilingual Latino college students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 148, 449–472. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.148.4.449-472
25.
*DevosT.BlancoK.RicoF.DunnR. (2008). The role of parenthood and college education in the self-concept of college students: Explicit and implicit assessments of gendered aspirations. Sex Roles, 59, 214–228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9430-6
26.
*DevosT.Cruz TorresJ. A. (2007). Implicit identification with academic achievement among Latino college students: The role of ethnic identity and significant others. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 29, 293–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973530701503432
27.
*DevosT.DiazP.VieraE.DunnR. (2007). College education and motherhood as components of self-concept: Discrepancies between implicit and explicit assessments. Self and Identity, 6, 256–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860601118710
28.
*DevosT.GavinK.QuintanaF. J. (2010). Say “adios” to the American dream? The interplay between ethnic and national identity among Latino and Caucasian Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16, 37–49. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015868
29.
*DunhamY.BaronA. S.BanajiM. R. (2007). Children and social groups: A developmental analysis of implicit consistency in Hispanic Americans. Self and Identity, 6, 238–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298860601115344
30.
*FarnhamS. D.GreenwaldA. G. (1999, June3–6). In-group favoritism: Implicit self-esteem × in-group identification [Paper presentation]. 11th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Society, Denver, CO, United States.
FestingerL. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
33.
GawronskiB.BodenhausenG. V. (2006). Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: Conceptual, empirical, and metatheoretical issues: Reply to Albarracín, Hart, and McCulloch (2006), Kruglanski and Dechesne (2006), and Petty and Briñol (2006). Psychological Bulletin, 132, 745–750. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.5.745
34.
GawronskiB.BodenhausenG. V. (2014). Implicit and explicit evaluation: A brief review of the associative–propositional evaluation model. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8, 448–462. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12124
35.
GawronskiB.BodenhausenG. V.BeckerA. P. (2007). I like it, because I like myself: Associative self-anchoring and post-decisional change of implicit evaluations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 221–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.04.001
36.
GreenwaldA. G.BanajiM. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102, 4–27. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.102.1.4
37.
GreenwaldA. G.BanajiM. R.RudmanL. A.FarnhamS. D.NosekB. A.MellottD. S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept. Psychology Review, 109, 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.109.1.3
38.
GreenwaldA. G.FarnhamS. D. (2000). Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 1022–1038. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.1022
GreenwaldA. G.McGheeD. E.SchwartzJ. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1464
41.
GreenwaldA. G.NosekB. A.BanajiM. R. (2003). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: I. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197–216. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2197
42.
GreenwaldA. G.NosekB. A.BanajiM. R.KlauerK. C. (2005). Validity of the salience asymmetry interpretation of the Implicit Association Test: Comment on Rothermund and Wentura (2004). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 420–425. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.134.3.420
43.
GreenwaldA. G.RudmanL. A.NosekB. A.ZayasV. (2006). Why so little faith? A reply to Blanton and Jaccard’s (2006) skeptical view of testing pure multiplicative theories. Psychological Review, 113, 170–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.113.1.170
44.
*GumbleA.CarelsR. (2012). The harmful and beneficial impacts of weight bias on well-being: The moderating influence of weight status. Body Image, 9, 101–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.07.005
HoggM. A. (2000). Social identity and social comparison. In SulsJ.WheelerL. (Eds.), The Plenum series in social/clinical psychology. Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research (pp. 401–421). Kluwer Academic.
48.
*HorcajoJ.BriñolP.PettyR. E. (2010). Consumer persuasion: Indirect change and implicit balance. Psychology and Marketing, 27, 938–963. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20367
49.
KahnemanD.KnetschJ. L.ThalerR. H. (1990). Experimental tests of the endowment effect and the Coase theorem. Journal of Political Economy, 98, 1325–1348. https://doi.org/10.1086/261737
50.
*LaneK. A.MitchellJ. P.BanajiM. R. (2005). Me and my group: Cultural status can disrupt cognitive consistency. Social Cognition, 23, 353–386. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2005.23.4.353
51.
LeeuwisF. H.KootH. M.CreemersH. E.van LierP. A. C. (2015). Implicit and explicit self-esteem discrepancies, victimization and the development of late childhood internalizing problems. Clinical Developmental Psychology, 43, 909–919. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9959-5
52.
*MellottD. S.GreenwaldA. G. (2000). But I don’t feel old! Implicit self-esteem, age identity and ageism in the elderlyUniversity of Washington. [Unpublished manuscript].
53.
*MeltzoffA. N.CvencekD.HeimannM.SundqvistA.KochF.-S.MaddoxC. D. (2020). Gender-related work/family stereotypes in two countries. University of Washington. [Manuscript in preparation].
54.
MitchellJ. P.AmesD. L.JenkinsA. C.BanajiM. R. (2009). Neural correlates of stereotype application. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 594–604. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21033
55.
NewcombT. M. (1953). An approach to the study of communicative acts. Psychological Review, 60, 393–404. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0063098
56.
*NosekB. A.BanajiM. R.GreenwaldA. G. (2002). Math = male, me = female, therefore math ≠ me. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 44–59. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.83.1.44
57.
*NosekB. A.SmythF. L. (2011). Implicit social cognitions predict sex differences in math engagement and achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 48, 1125–1156. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831211410683
58.
NosekB. A.SmythF. L.HansenJ. J.DevosT.LindnerN. M.RanganathK. A.. . . BanajiM. R. (2007). Pervasiveness and correlates of implicit attitudes and stereotypes. European Review of Social Psychology, 18, 36–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463280701489053
59.
NosekB. A.SmythF. L.SriramN.LindnerN. M.DevosT.AyalaA.. . . GreenwaldA. G. (2009). National differences in gender–science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106, 10593–10597. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0809921106
60.
OrneM. T. (1962). On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. American Psychologist, 17, 776–783. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043424
61.
OsgoodC. E.SuciG. J.TannenbaumP. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning. University of Illinois Press.
62.
OsgoodC. E.TannenbaumP. H. (1955). The principle of congruity in the prediction of attitude change. Psychological Review, 62, 42–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0048153
63.
PerkinsA. W.ForehandM. R. (2006). Decomposing the implicit self-concept: The relative influence of semantic meaning and valence on attribute self-association. Social Cognition, 24, 387–408. https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2006.24.4.387
64.
PerkinsA. W.ForehandM. R. (2012). Implicit self-referencing: The effect of nonvolitional self-association on brand and product attitude. Journal of Consumer Research, 39, 142–156. https://doi.org/10.1086/662069
65.
RosenbergM. J. (1969). The conditions and consequences of evaluation apprehension. In RosenthalR.RosnowR. L. (Eds.), Artifact inbehavioral research (pp. 279–349). Academic Press.
66.
RothJ.SteffensM. C. (2014). When I becomes we: Associative self-anchoring drives implicit intergroup bias in minimal groups. Social Psychology, 45, 253–264. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000169
67.
*RudmanL. A.GreenwaldA. G.McGheeD. E. (2001). Implicit self-concept and evaluative implicit gender stereotypes: Self and ingroup share desirable traits. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1164–1178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201279009
68.
*RudmanL. A.McLeanM. C. (2013). Evidence for balanced identity theory for Black and White Americans. Rutgers University. [Unpublished raw data].
69.
SabinJ. A.GreenwaldA. G. (2012). The influence of implicit bias on treatment recommendations for 4 common pediatric conditions: Pain, urinary tract infection, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and asthma. American Journal of Public Health, 102, 988–995. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300621
70.
SchindlerS.WolffW.KisslerJ. M.BrandR. (2015). Cerebral correlates of faking: Evidence from a brief implicit association test on doping attitudes. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 9, Article 139. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00139
71.
*SchmidtK.NosekB. A. (2015). Balanced identities: Racial attitudes, racial identity, and self-esteem. University of Virginia. [Unpublished manuscript].
72.
*SrivastavaS. B.BanajiM. R. (2011). Culture, cognition, and collaborative networks in organizations. American Sociological Review, 76, 207–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411399390
73.
*SteffensM. C.JelenecP.NoackP. (2010). On the leaky math pipeline: Comparing implicit math-gender stereotypes and math withdrawal in female and male children and adolescents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 947–963. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019920
74.
StrackF.DeutschR. (2004). Reflective and impulsive determinants of social behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 220–247. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0803_1
TajfelH.BilligM. G.BundyR. P.FlamentC. (1971). Social categorization and intergroup behaviour. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 149–178. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420010202
77.
TajfelH.TurnerJ. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.
78.
*TangE.GreenwaldA. G. (2013, May). Bicultural conflict examined with balanced cultural identity measures [Poster presentation]. Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
79.
TrendelO.MazodierM.VohsK. (2018). Making warnings about misleading advertising and product recalls more effective: An implicit attitude perspective. Journal of Marketing Research, 55, 265–276. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.14.0305
80.
TurnerJ. C.HoggM. A.OakesP. J.ReicherS. D.WetherellM. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell.
81.
WeberS. J.CookT. D. (1972). Subject effects in laboratory research: An examination of subject roles, demand characteristics, and valid inference. Psychological Bulletin, 77, 273–295. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032351
82.
YeY.GawronskiB. (2016). When possessions become part of the self: Ownership and implicit self-object linking. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 64, 72–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.01.012
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
