Script Author: Sean Draine (seandr@millisecond.com)
Last Modified: January 25, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond
Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC
The Implicit Association Task (IAT: Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) and the brief IAT (BIAT: Sriram & Greenwald, 2009) are widely-used cognitive-behavioral paradigms that measure the strength of automatic (implicit) associations between concepts in people’s minds relying on latency measures in simple sorting tasks.
The strength of an association between concepts is measured by the standardized mean difference score of the 'hypothesis-inconsistent' pairings and 'hypothesis-consistent' pairings (d-score) (Greenwald, Nosek, & Banaji, 2003). In general, the higher the d-score the stronger is the association between the 'hypothesis-consistent' pairings (decided by researchers). Negative d-scores suggest a stronger association between the 'hypothesis-inconsistent' pairings.
Inquisit calculates contrast d scores using the improved scoring algorithm as described in Greenwald et al (2003). Error trials are handled by requiring respondents to correct their responses according to recommendation (p.214).
Constrast D-scores obtained with this script: Positive scores indicate a preference for the lefthand category Negative scores indicate a preference for the righthand category
Example: expressions.ABd (A is on the left; B is on the right) => A (=White) vs. B (=Asian) positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Asians; negative D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Whites.
Aggregate D-Scores: Aggregate D-Scores are averaged D-Scores for each racial/ethnic group (see guidelines and explanations in Axt et al, 2014). An aggregate D-score allows the evaluation of each racial/ethnic group compared to the others. Positive scores = more favorable evaluation than the average one across all groups Negative scores = less favorable evaluation than the average one across all groups
Important Copyright Info: The University of Washington has applied for patent on the BIAT method. The patent is managed by Project Implicit. Both the University of Washington and Project Implicit authorize free use of the BIAT method and published stimuli for scholarly research, provided that reports of the research clearly identify any modifications made to the BIAT and appropriately cite the present article. Please contact Project Implicit (E-mail: feedback@projectimplicit.net) to request a license for commercial or other nonscholarly use of the BIAT.
Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. K. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464-1480.
Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and Using the Implicit Association Test: I. An Improved Scoring Algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197-216.
Sriram, N. & Anthony G. Greenwald, A.G (2009).The Brief Implicit Association Test. Experimental Psychology, 56, 283–294. (see page. 285, Table 1 for an overview of the procedure)
Axt, J. R., Ebersole, C. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2014). The rules of implicit evaluation by race, religion, and age. Psychological Science, Vol. 25(9), 1804–1815.
7 minutes
Participants are asked to categorize attributes (e.g. "pleasant"; "awful") and target faces of 4 different racial/ethnic groups: Whites, Asians, Blacks, Hispanics into predetermined categories via keystroke presses. For the test, participants are asked to sort categories into paired/combined categories (e.g. "Blacks OR Good" on the left vs. "Anything else" on the right). The basic task is to press a left key (E) if an item (e.g. "Pleasant" or "Black Face") belongs to the category presented on the left (e.g. "Blacks OR Good") and to press the right key (I) if the word (e.g. "awful" or "Whites") does not belong to the category on the left. Each racial/ethnic group is tested against each other once. The order of the resulting 12 tests is determined randomly in this script*.
•Axt et al (2014) used 24 different counterbalanced orders. Each racial/ethnic group appeared as a target once every 4 blocks.
4 types of ethnic groups (Whites, Asians, Blacks, Hispanics) tested against each other => 12 test blocks
e.g. A (Whites); B (Asians)
Block AB: "Whites OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Asians OR bad words)
Block BA: "Asians OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Whites OR bad words)
Block AC: "Whites OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Blacks OR bad words)
Block CA: "Blacks OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Whites OR bad words)
Block AD: "Whites OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Hispanics OR bad words)
Block DA: "Hispanics OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Whites OR bad words)
Block BC: "Asians OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Blacks OR bad words)
Block CB: "Blacks OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Asians OR bad words)
Block BD: "Asians OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Hispanics OR bad words)
Block DB: "Hispanics OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Asians OR bad words)
Block CD: "Blacks OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Hispanics OR bad words)
Block DC: "Hispanics OR Good" vs. "anything else" (aka Blacks OR bad words)
Sequence (odd groupnumbers):
1. Attribute Training: 20 trials; 10 positive attributes, 10 negative attributes; order is randomly determined
2-13: random order of the 12 pairing blocks
In all Test Blocks:
• attributes and targets alternate
• attributes as well as targets are randomly selected without replacement
• test blocks run 20 trials by default
• the first 4 trials = prefatory trials that are not included into subsequent analyses
Stimuli can be edited under section Editable Stimuli
Instructions can be edited under section Editable Instructions
File Name: multiculturaliat_summary*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| inquisit.version | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| startDate | Date the session was run |
| startTime | Time the session was run |
| subjectId | Participant ID |
| groupId | Group number |
| sessionId | Session number |
| elapsedTime | Session duration in ms |
| completed | 0 = Test was not completed 1 = Test was completed |
| percentCorrect | The overall percent correct score of initial responses of test trials of D-score qualifying latencies Suggested D-Score Interpretation D-score <= -0.65 => "a strong" preference for first letter (e.g. AB => strong preference for A) D-score < -0.35 => "a moderate" preference for first letter D-score < -0.15 => "a slight" preference for first letter -0.15 <= D-score <= 0.15 "little to no" preference D-score > 0.15 => "a slight" preference for second letter (e.g. AB => slight preference for B) D-score > 0.35 => "a moderate" preference for second letter D-score >= 0.65 => "a strong" preference for second letter |
| abd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Asians negative D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Whites |
| acd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Blacks negative D-score indicates a preference for Blacks over Whites |
| add | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Hispanics negative D-score indicates a preference for Hispanics over Whites |
| bcd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Blacks negative D-score indicates a preference for Blacks over Asians |
| bdd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Hispanics negative D-score indicates a preference for Hispanics over Asians |
| cdd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Blacks over Hispanics negative D-score indicates a preference for Hispanics over Blacks |
| dA | Aggregate D-scores for group A |
| dB | Aggregate D-scores for group B |
| dC | Aggregate D-scores for group C |
| dD | Aggregate D-scores for group D if fewer or more than 4 groups were run with this script, the calculations for the aggregate scores need to be adjusted (see section EXPRESSIONS) |
| aggregateCheck | Check to ensure that the sum of all 4 aggregates is 0 |
| propRT300 | The proportion of response latencies < 300ms |
| excludeCriteriaMet | 1 = yes, exclusion supported per Greenwald et al (2003, p.214, Table 4) More than 10% of all response latencies are faster than 300ms 0 = otherwise |
File Name: multiculturaliat_raw*.iqdat
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| build | Inquisit version number |
| computer.platform | Device platform: win | mac |ios | android |
| computer.touch | 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities |
| computer.hasKeyboard | 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected |
| date | Date the session was run |
| time | Time the session was run |
| subject | Participant ID |
| group | Group number |
| session | Session number |
| blockcode | The name the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| blocknum | The number of the current block (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialcode | The name of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) |
| trialnum | The number of the currently recorded trial (built-in Inquisit variable) trialnum is a built-in Inquisit variable; it counts all trials run even those that do not store data to the data file. |
| response | The final trial response (scancodes of the keys pressed) 18 = E 23 = I 57 = spacebar press script saves the final and -by design- correct response for each trial |
| correct | The accuracy of the initial response 0 = initial response was incorrect and needed to be corrected 1 = initial response is correct |
| latency | The latency of the final (correct) response in ms; measured from onset of stim |
| stimulusNumber | The number of the current stimulus |
| stimulusItem | The currently presented item percentCorrect: the overall percent correct score of initial responses of test trials of D-score qualifying latencies (Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) Suggested D-Score Interpretation D-score <= -0.65 => "a strong" preference for first letter (e.g. AB => strong preference for A) D-score < -0.35 => "a moderate" preference for first letter D-score < -0.15 => "a slight" preference for first letter -0.15 <= D-score <= 0.15 "little to no" preference D-score > 0.15 => "a slight" preference for second letter (e.g. AB => slight preference for B) D-score > 0.35 => "a moderate" preference for second letter D-score >= 0.65 => "a strong" preference for second letter |
| abd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Asians (Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) negative D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Whites |
| acd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Blacks (Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) negative D-score indicates a preference for Blacks over Whites |
| add | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Whites over Hispanics (Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) negative D-score indicates a preference for Hispanics over Whites |
| bcd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Blacks(Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) negative D-score indicates a preference for Blacks over Asians |
| bdd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Asians over Hispanics (Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) negative D-score indicates a preference for Hispanics over Asians |
| cdd | Positive D-score indicates a preference for Blacks over Hispanics (Only meaningful for the last row of data in the raw data file - upon completion of IAT) negative D-score indicates a preference for Hispanics over Blacks |
| dA | Aggregate D-scores for group A |
| dB | Aggregate D-scores for group B |
| dC | Aggregate D-scores for group C |
| dD | Aggregate D-scores for group D if fewer or more than 4 groups were run with this script, the calculations for the aggregate scores need to be adjusted (see section EXPRESSIONS) |
| aggregateCheck | Check to ensure that the sum of all 4 aggregates is 0 |
| propRT300 | The proportion of response latencies < 300ms |
| excludeCriteriaMet | 1 = yes, exclusion supported per Greenwald et al (2003, p.214, Table 4) More than 10% of all response latencies are faster than 300ms 0 = otherwise |
The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.
| Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| skipSummary | The "skipsummary" variable in the values tag can be set to true to skip the final summary page or false to display the page. | false |
| extended | The "extended" variable in the values tag can be set to true to run a total of four test blocks, or false to run only 2 test blocks. | true |
| presentLastNames | True = last names are presented with the images false = no last names are presented | true |