An integrated threat model of explicit and implicit attitudes

Abstract

AbstractThe current study applied integrated threat theory (ITT) to the prediction of implicit and explicit attitudes toward African‐Americans. We tested models predicting attitudes from threats (intergroup anxiety, realistic, and symbolic) and antecedents to threat (contact, status, ingroup identification, and negative stereotyping). Data collected from 389 White undergraduate participants indicated that ITT is a good model for predicting both implicit and explicit attitudes. With few exceptions, antecedents predicted threats, and threats mediated the impact of antecedents on attitudes. This work adds importantly to ITT as it demonstrated common predictors of explicit and implicit attitudes, distinguished between negative and positive forms of contact, and tested a latent variable model. We discuss theoretical implications for dual process interpretations of implicit and explicit attitudes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.