The Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Writing for the Encyclopedia of Social Psychology, Dana Carney, B. A. Nosek, A. G. Greenwald, and M. R. Banaji define the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a self-report invented to study implicit or unconscious forms of thoughts and feelings by asking respondents to rapidly sort items from four different categories into groups. Because the IAT is administered via computer and can use words, pictures, or sounds to represent concepts, it can be administered to the blind, young children, and others who are unable to read. The definition also offers a link to sample IATs and provides conclusions that have been drawn from IAT results.