Implicit Self-concept Research Articles

In the I of the beholder: an attempt to capture the implicit self-concept regarding psychopathy.

This article explores the implicit self-concept pertaining to psychopathy. Two online studies showed inconsistent results, with Study 1 (n = 243) suggesting that psychopathy is linked to an implicit self-concept marked by low empathy and Study 2 (n = 230) implying no such relationship. In a sample of offenders and community controls (Study 3a, n = 166), higher scores on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) were related to an implicit self-concept of being less rather than more antisocial, and the implicit self-concept showed incremental validity compared to the explicit self-concept. The retesting of an offender subsample (Study 3b, n = 47) yielded no evidence for temporal stability or convergent validity. The implicit self-concept of highly psychopathic individuals thus appears to vary, depending on the social context. Future studies should replicate these results in different samples, using additional external correlates.

Non-conscious processing of fear faces: a function of the implicit self-concept of anxiety

BackgroundTrait anxiety refers to a stable tendency to experience fears and worries across many situations. High trait anxiety is a vulnerability factor for the development of psychopathologies. Self-reported trait anxiety appears to be associated with an automatic processing advantage for threat-related information. Self-report measures assess aspects of the explicit self-concept of anxiety. Indirect measures can tap into the implicit self-concept of anxiety.MethodsWe examined automatic brain responsiveness to non-conscious threat as a function of trait anxiety using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Besides a self-report instrument, we administered the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess anxiety. We used a gender-decision paradigm presenting brief (17 ms) and backward-masked facial expressions depicting disgust and fear.ResultsExplicit trait anxiety was not associated with brain responsiveness to non-conscious threat. However, a relation of the implicit self-concept of anxiety with masked fear processing in the thalamus, precentral gyrus, and lateral prefrontal cortex was observed.ConclusionsWe provide evidence that a measure of the implicit self-concept of anxiety is a valuable predictor of automatic neural responses to threat in cortical and subcortical areas. Hence, implicit anxiety measures could be a useful addition to explicit instruments. Our data support the notion that the thalamus may constitute an important neural substrate in biased non-conscious processing in anxiety.

Exposure to stereotype-relevant stories shapes children's implicit gender stereotypes.

Implicit math = male stereotypes have been found in early childhood and are linked to girls' disproportionate disengagement from math-related activities and later careers. Yet, little is known about how malleable children's automatic stereotypes are, especially in response to brief interventions. In a sample of 336 six- to eleven-year-olds, we experimentally tested whether exposure to a brief story vignette intervention with either stereotypical, neutral, or counter-stereotypical content (three conditions: math = boy vs. neutral vs. math = girl) could change implicit math-gender stereotypes. Results suggested that children's implicit math = male stereotypes were indeed responsive to brief stories that either reinforced or countered the widespread math = male stereotype. Children exposed to the counter-stereotypical stories showed significantly lower (and non-significant) stereotypes compared to children exposed to the stereotypical stories. Critically, exposure to stories that perpetuated math = male stereotypes significantly increased math-gender stereotypes over and above baseline, underscoring that implicit gender biases that are readily formed during this period in childhood and even brief exposure to stereotypical content can strengthen them. As a secondary question, we also examined whether changes in stereotypes might also lead to changes in implicit math self-concept. Evidence for effects on implicit self-concept were not statistically significant.

What underlies death/suicide implicit association test measures and how it contributes to suicidal action

ABSTRACT Recently, psychologists have developed indirect measurement procedures to predict suicidal behavior. A prominent example is the Death/Suicide Implicit Association Test (DS-IAT). In this paper, I argue that there is something special about the DS-IAT which distinguishes it from different IAT measures. I argue that the DS-IAT does not measure weak or strong associations between the implicit self-concept and the abstract concept of death. In contrast, assuming a goal-system approach, I suggest that sorting death-related to self-related words takes effort because death-related words trigger avoidance-impulses, which suicide ideation weakens. The DS-IAT taps into weakened automatic responses from the self-preservation system. Additionally, the suggested cognitive structure, illuminated with the selfish-goal theory, explains predictable suicidal behavior.

Self-transcendence through self-inhibition?: God primes reduce self-accessibility.

This article reports 7 studies showing that God primes inhibit self-concept accessibility. Study 1A provided the first supportive evidence using undergraduate samples. Study 1B replicated the findings using working adult participants. Study 2A to 2C showed that the inhibitory effect of the God concept on implicit self-concepts was not due to concepts related to love, power, hope, religion, devil, and father. Study 3 found the same inhibitory effect when the God prime was subliminally presented. Study 4 showed that God concept priming influenced implicit self-representations, but not other types of implicit representations. Finally, a meta-analysis of our findings reveal a large effect of priming. In addition, the effect was consistent across different religious affiliations. These findings provide evidence at the social–cognitive level that activation of God concepts can induce lower self-orientation: a possible mechanism for religious self-transcendence.

Negative self-conscious emotions in women with borderline personality disorder as assessed by an Implicit Association Test.

Shame and guilt are vital in borderline personality disorder (BPD), and previous research using explicit measures has consistently found elevated levels of these self-conscious emotions (SCE) in those with BPD. However, these measures cannot elucidate implicit processes that are equally important, as they guide the perceptions of the self and influence behavioral responses. Thus, we aimed to extend the research on SCE in BPD utilizing an indirect latency-based measure. A total of 29 female inpatients with BPD and 21 healthy women were assessed with a shame and a guilt self-concept Implicit Association Test (IAT). These two tasks use reaction time measurements to determine the relative strengths of associations between the self versus others and shame versus pride and guilt versus innocence. In addition, participants completed questionnaires capturing shame, guilt, and BPD symptoms. Women with BPD displayed significantly more shame- and guilt-prone implicit self-concepts than the control group (d = 1.2 and d = 0.7, respectively). They also scored significantly higher on explicit measures of shame and guilt. Although explicitly and implicitly assessed shame and guilt were strongly associated with borderline pathology, multivariate models indicated that solely self-reported, but not implicitly measured, guilt was consistently related to all BPD outcomes. Shame was only associated with the number of BPD criteria. This study extends previous findings on SCE in BPD, in that women with BPD do not only explicitly conceive themselves as more shame- and guilt-prone but also exhibit implicitly more shame and guilt self-concepts than healthy controls. Our results may hold clinical and therapeutic implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Daily life processes predict long-term development in explicit and implicit representations of Big Five traits: Testing predictions from the TESSERA (Triggering situations, Expectancies, States and State Expressions, and ReActions) framework.

This study examined daily life processes and their contribution to long-term continuity and change in explicit and implicit representations of Big 5 traits. The TESSERA framework (Wrzus & Roberts, 2017) served as theoretical background to derive predictions on 3 linked research questions (RQ) regarding (a) trait-state associations (RQ1); (b) antecedents and consequences of personality states (RQ2); as well as (c) processes of personality development (RQ3). We assessed Big 5 traits using self-ratings (i.e., BFI-44) and implicit association tests 4 times across 2 years in a sample of 382 younger (Mage = 21.57 years) and older (Mage = 67.76 years) adults. We also assessed momentary processes in multiple waves of daily diaries (total M = 43.9 days) focusing on people's most memorable daily experience. As predicted in RQ1, all self-rated traits, and implicit associations of self with conscientiousness, agreeableness, or emotional stability predicted subsequent trait-relevant situations and states. Regarding RQ2 across all trait domains, momentary processes could be generalized as sequences of Triggering situations, Expectancies, States and State Expressions, and ReActions (i.e., TESSERA sequences). With respect to RQ3, states were associated with long-term changes in self-rated conscientiousness and agreeableness, and self-rated and implicitly measured extraversion. Our findings further support the assumption that momentary experiences in daily life can contribute to long-term Big 5 changes, and extend previous research by examining implicit self-concepts and changes therein. The findings highlight the role of triggering situations, expectancies, reactions, and reflection in personality development in addition to trait-relevant states. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

On the relationship between explicit and implicit self-concept of extraversion and neuroticism

Indirect methods such as the implicit association test (IAT) could complement traditional self-report questionnaires of personality traits. However, it is unclear whether IAT scores and self-report scores of nominally the same personality trait measure the same construct or overlapping but distinct constructs. To investigate how IAT and self-report personality scores relate to each other, we conducted a web-based data collection where participants completed self-report personality questionnaires (n = 432) and IATs for extraversion (n = 393) and neuroticism (n = 385). We found that extraversion self-report and IAT scores were more strongly correlated with each other than corresponding neuroticism scores. Overall, our findings suggest that although extraversion and neuroticism self-report and implicit measures are related, they do measure distinct constructs.

Are dimensional comparisons performed unconsciously? An investigation of the internal/external frame of reference model using implicit self-concepts.

Dimensional comparisons are comparisons of one’s accomplishments between two domains (e.g., comparisons between math and verbal achievements) that affect our self-perceptions in the domains compared with each other. In particular, dimensional comparisons explain the seemingly paradoxical finding, described in the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model, that students’ math (verbal) achievement has a negative effect on their verbal (math) self-concept (dimensional comparison effect), while controlling for the positive effect of verbal (math) achievement on verbal (math) self-concept (social comparison effect). The present study is the first to examine awareness of dimensional and social comparisons by testing the I/E model with implicit and explicit self-concepts. Using a sample of 795 students from Germany, we measured students’ implicit self-concepts using a go/no-go association task. Students’ explicit self-concepts were measured using common rating scales. Overall, we were able to replicate the I/E model relations (negative dimensional comparison effects, positive social comparison effects) with both kinds of self-concept operationalization, suggesting that dimensional and social comparisons are also performed unconsciously. The effects of students’ achievements on their explicit self-concepts were usually stronger than those on their implicit self-concepts. However, whereas (in line with prior studies of the I/E model) the dimensional comparison effects were significantly weaker than the social comparison effects in the I/E model with explicit self-concepts, dimensional and social comparison effects were equally strong in the I/E model with implicit self-concepts. This finding emphasizes the relative importance of dimensional comparisons in the process of implicit self-concept formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

STEAM Programming as a Pathway to Foster Positive Academic Self-Efficacy and Positive Self-Concept

Multicultural individuals are underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Therefore, the current study is focused on exploring STEAMtrix, a STEM out-of-school time (OST) education program that incorporates the arts for kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) students. The study explores whether STEAMtrix could lead to the formation of positive STEM-specific self-efficacy and self-concept. Specifically, the study examined whether STEAMtrix could improve multicultural students’ interest and awareness of careers within the STEM pipeline. Thirty-eight students from multicultural backgrounds at a medium-sized community center participated in STEAMtrix. Explicit measures of STEM self-efficacy and both explicit and implicit measures of self-concept were collected before and after programming. Results demonstrated that the STEAMtrix curriculum increased STEM self-efficacy in some domains and improved implicit self-concept. This study offers insight into how community organizations and school systems can promote early access, positive self-efficacy, and positive self-concept in relation to STEM educational experiences during OST.

Supplemental Material for Are Dimensional Comparisons Performed Unconsciously? An Investigation of the Internal/External Frame of Reference Model Using Implicit Self-Concepts

Supplemental Material for Are Dimensional Comparisons Performed Unconsciously? An Investigation of the Internal/External Frame of Reference Model Using Implicit Self-Concepts

Implicit and explicit self-concept of neuroticism in borderline personality disorder

Purpose: In the past, research on personality in borderline personality disorder (BPD) used primarily questionnaires suggesting heightened neuroticism in BPD. Self-report instruments inform about the conscious or explicit self-concept. BPD patients are known to show negative distortion with exaggeration of negative affect in the self-report. Neuroticism represents a risk factor for mental disorders. Indirect measures are available that tap into the implicit self-concept of neuroticism. The implicit self-concept refers to individual differences in associative representations of the self. The present study examined for the first time the implicit in addition to the explicit self-concept of neuroticism in BPD.Materials and methods: Female BPD patients (N = 35) and healthy women (N = 39) completed an implicit association test and the NEO-FFI personality inventory.Results: BPD patients showed higher implicit and explicit neuroticism compared to controls. The group difference for explicit neuroticism was four times larger than that for implicit neuroticism. Presence of comorbid depressive disorder was positively correlated with implicit neuroticism. The IAT neuroticism showed excellent split-half reliability for BPD patients.Conclusions: The present data suggest that BPD patients with comorbid clinical depression but not those without clinical depression differ from healthy individuals in their implicit self-concept of neuroticism. In the associative network, BPD patients with comorbid clinical depression exhibit stronger associations of the self with neuroticism-related characteristics, such as nervousness, fearfulness, and uncertainty than healthy individuals. Regardless of depression, BPD patients show increased explicit neuroticism. Our findings provide evidence that the IAT neuroticism can be applied reliably to BPD patients.

Study of Impulsivity on Implicit Self-concept and Emotion

Study of Impulsivity on Implicit Self-concept and Emotion

The Moving-IAT

Abstract. Accumulated evidence suggests that indirect measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) provide an increment in personality assessment explaining behavioral variance over and above self-reports. Likewise, it has been shown that there are several unwanted sources of variance in personality IATs potentially reducing their psychometric quality. For example, there is evidence that individuals use imagery-based facilitation strategies while performing the IAT. That is, individuals actively create mental representations of their person that fit to the category combination in the respective block, but do not necessarily fit to their implicit personality self-concept. A single-block IAT variant proposed by attitude research, where compatible and incompatible trials are presented in one and the same block, may prevent individuals from using such facilitation strategies. Consequently, for the trait need for cognition (NFC), a new single-block IAT version was developed (called Moving-IAT) and tested against the standard IAT for differences in internal consistency and predictive validity in a sample of 126 participants. Although the Moving-IAT showed lower internal consistency, its predictive value for NFC-typical behavior was higher than that of the standard IAT. Given individual’s strategy reports, the single-block structure of the Moving-IAT indeed reduces the likelihood of imagery-based strategies.

Predicting daily-life antisocial behaviour in institutionalized adolescents with Transgression-related Implicit Association Tests

This study investigated whether implicit attitude (IA) and implicit self-concept (ISC) towards transgression predicted daily-life antisocial behaviour (ASB) in institutionalized adolescents. Eighty-seven adolescents completed two Implicit Association Tests (IAT) assessing IA and ISC towards transgression, and reported four times a day during eight days the intensity of their ASB. Staff members concurrently reported the intensity of each adolescent’s ASB. Adolescents filled in the Inventory for Callous-Unemotional Traits and answered a semi-structured interview assessing conduct disorder. Multilevel regression analyses confirmed that adolescents’ ISC towards transgression significantly predicted their self - and staff-reported ASB over and above conduct disorder and callous-unemotional traits. However, adolescents’ IA towards transgression did not predict their ASB. Results indicate that ISC towards transgression is a reliable predictor of daily-life ASB in institutionalized adolescents. These results suggest that transgression-related ISC represents a promising target for ASB prevention in institutionalized adolescents.

Betrayed? That’s Me: Implicit and Explicit Betrayed Self-Concept in Young Adults Abused as Children

ABSTRACTAttenuated awareness of betrayal, or “betrayal blindness,” is a proposed survival mechanism in relationships where awareness of betrayal will mobilize confront-or-withdraw responses that jeopardize a needed relationship. Empirical tests of betrayal blindness and its effects are hampered by the methodological conundrum of how to measure an absence of awareness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of a novel empirical method to measure implicit betrayed self-concept, the first step in a long-term research aim to operationalize “betrayal blindness.” Informed by betrayal trauma theory, we hypothesized that a history of betrayal within close childhood relationships (but not recent close relationships or “not-close” relationships) would predict implicit betrayed-self associations in young adulthood. An adaptation of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and measured implicit and explicit betrayed-self associations and self-reported history of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse in 529 university undergraduates was designed. Internal consistency reliability of the betrayed self IAT was low but adequate. Hierarchical regression modeling revealed that history of abuse within close childhood relationships (but not recent close relationships or “not-close” relationships) predicted betrayed-self IAT scores. The effect size was small, β = .12, p < .05, 95% CI [.01, .07], R2 = .12. In addition, history of betrayal by someone close (but not someone “not close”) at any age predicted increased explicit evaluations of the self as betrayed versus respected, a small effect size, R2 = .16. Findings indicate that implicit betrayed self-concept can be measured empirically.

Brain response to masked and unmasked facial emotions as a function of implicit and explicit personality self-concept of extraversion

Extraversion–introversion is a personality dimension referring to individual differences in social behavior. In the past, neurobiological research on extraversion was almost entirely based upon questionnaires which inform about the explicit self-concept. Today, indirect measures are available that tap into the implicit self-concept of extraversion which is assumed to result from automatic processing functions. In our study, brain activation while viewing facial expression of affiliation relevant (i.e., happiness, and disgust) and irrelevant (i.e., fear) emotions was examined as a function of the implicit and explicit self-concept of extraversion and processing mode (automatic vs. controlled). 40 healthy volunteers watched blocks of masked and unmasked emotional faces while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. The Implicit Association Test and the NEO Five-Factor Inventory were applied as implicit and explicit measures of extraversion which were uncorrelated in our sample. Implicit extraversion was found to be positively associated with neural response to masked happy faces in the thalamus and temporo-parietal regions and to masked disgust faces in cerebellar areas. Moreover, it was positively correlated with brain response to unmasked disgust faces in the amygdala and cortical areas. Explicit extraversion was not related to brain response to facial emotions when controlling trait anxiety. The implicit compared to the explicit self-concept of extraversion seems to be more strongly associated with brain activation not only during automatic but also during controlled processing of affiliation relevant facial emotions. Enhanced neural response to facial disgust could reflect high sensitivity to signals of interpersonal rejection in extraverts (i.e., individuals with affiliative tendencies).

Implicit Attitudes of Chinese University Students towards Altruism: Evidence from Single Category Implicit Association Test

IAT measures are supposed to be able to remove the effects that come from people’s natural tendency to believe that they have socially desirable traits. In the present study, the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) was used to explore implicit attitudes and self-images of Chinese university students with respect to altruism. Three kinds of altruism (general altruism, kin altruism and reciprocal altruism) were considered to detect the participants’ implicit attitudes and self-images. Specific wording was incorporated in the SC-IAT measures to explore whether the students believed that apparent altruism in others was honest or hypocritical. The results show: 1) Chinese students generally hold positive implicit attitudes towards kin, reciprocal, and general altruism, but the positive attitudes towards reciprocal and kin altruism are significantly stronger than towards general altruism. 2) Chinese students regard themselves neither as altruistic nor selfish in their implicit self-concepts. 3) Chinese students tend to judge altruism as honest rather than hypocritical behavior, especially in the cases of kin and reciprocal altruism.

Alexithymia and the implicit self-concept of extraversion in women

Findings from studies using self-reports suggest a negative association between the personality traits of alexithymia and extraversion. Self-report measures are assumed to assess aspects of the explicit self-concept of personality. Indirect measures, such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT), were developed to tap into the implicit self-concept of personality. The present study examined for the first time the relationship between self-reported alexithymia and the implicit self-concept of extraversion. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) assessing extraversion were administered to 86 healthy women along with the NEO Five-factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). A significant negative correlation of r=−.26 was found between alexithymia and implicit extraversion that remained significant when controlling for trait anxiety and explicit extraversion. Our study provides first evidence that in individuals with high alexithymia associative representations of the self are less strongly linked to extraversion-related characteristics compared to those with low alexithymia. Our data are consistent with findings demonstrating that alexithymia comes along with social anhedonia, withdrawal, and interpersonal problems.

Relationships of career adaptabilities with explicit and implicit self-concepts

Career adaptability is a psychosocial construct that incorporates a set of essential resources to one's career development. The adaptability resources' relevance is even higher when it comes to former communist countries, such as Romania, where job security and stability were seen as central benefits for workers. The aim of this study was to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the stable underpinnings of career adaptabilities by exploring their relationships with aspects of the self that are driven by automatic processes and that are less affected by self-presentation biases. A sample of 359 participants completed the Career Adapt Abilities Scale (CAAS)-Romanian form, out of which a subsample of 212 participants also completed a set of scales comprising explicit and implicit measures of conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem. Results revealed nonsignificant additive contributions of the implicit self-concept measures over what was already explained by the explicit self-concepts. The most noticeable effect resides in the significant interaction between explicit and implicit self-esteem in relation to control, confidence, and overall adaptability. These results reveal that individuals with high explicit and low implicit self-esteem perceive themselves as being the most adaptable. Notably, these results were obtained using a Romanian version of CAAS that possesses very good psychometric properties (i.e., excellent internal consistencies, the same four-factor multidimensional solution, replicated patterns of associations between CAAS and explicit self-concepts of personality).