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Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the role of implicit processes in aeronautical risk taking. Qualified pilots completed an implicit association test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) measuring implicit anxiety felt towards adverse weather, and a measure of involvement in hazardous aeronautical events (Hunter, 1995). There was a relationship between implicit anxiety and the pilots' involvement in hazardous events. The more weather-related hazardous events the pilot had been involved in, the less implicitly anxious towards adverse weather the pilots were. The same pattern of results was found when assessing the pilots' involvement in weather-related hazardous events. This suggests that one of the reasons why pilots may be involved in such events is because they are less implicitly afraid of flying in bad weather.

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Implicit Attitudes and Aeronautical Decision Making

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