Marital Attitudes and Implicit Associations Tests (IAT) among Young Adults

Abstract

Attitudes toward marriage have primarily been explored on the direct or explicit level through self-report measures, neglecting the potential influence of implicit attitudes. Using computer-based experimentation, the current investigation focused on employing Implicit Association Test (IAT) procedures, an approach common in some psychological sciences, but yet to be prominent in published marriage and family research. The IAT measures implicit attitudes—those that operate on a spontaneous or more affective level. One-hundred and thirty-three participants completed two forms of the IAT: one that contrasted marriage with singlehood and the other that provided no contrasting concept to marriage. Results indicated that the former correlated positively with corresponding explicit measures of attitudes, though they shared minimal variance. The latter had no correlation with explicit measures. Results suggest that processes account for implicit and explicit attitudes about marriage. Implications of using both IAT measures are discussed.