Discussion

For your discussion for chapter 9, I want you to complete an Implicit Attitude Test (IAT). You can do this online at any time by going to  to an external site.) and follow the following steps:

A. Click on EITHER “Project Implicit Social Attitudes” OR “Project Implicit Mental Health”. The former will be more valuable in terms of our course, but you can do the mental health IAT if you prefer. For mental health IATs, you can do a test looking at anxiety, depression, self-esteem, mental illness, etc. For social attitudes (my preference), you have a larger range of topics (Native American Attitudes, Sexuality, Weapons, Skin-Tone, Race, etc.).

B. For the Social Attitudes test, click “PROJECT IMPLICIT SOCIAL ATTITUDES”. The page will show a brief description of IATs. Look at the menu at the top of the page and click “Take a Test”. This will give you some additional information and ask if you want to proceed. Click “I wish to proceed”. Find an IAT topic that interests you and complete it. Then report your results to your discussion group based on the discussion question below.

C. For the Mental Health test, click “PROJECT IMPLICIT MENTAL HEALTH”. You will see a link that will take you to the test, though you will have to click “I wish to proceed” after some preliminary instructions. Again, choose a topic you find interesting and complete the test. After, report the results to your discussion group based on the discussion question below.

Remember, you only have to do ONE test, but I encourage you to do a few different topics. They might give you an option to participate in a real ongoing study, which you are free to accept or decline as you see fit. The tests only take about 10 minutes each, and they might give you some valuable self-insight. Have fun with this one!

Your Discussion Question: At the end of the IAT, you should get a report regarding your score and some debriefing information. Once you get this information, share your experiences with your group members. 1). Do you think the results are accurate? Why or why not? 2). Why might an IAT be better for getting at people’s true thoughts and beliefs more than simply asking them for their thoughts and beliefs? 3). What kinds of psychological variables account for your results (cognitive or social psychological concepts – mention at least ONE concept in this section). In your follow-up comment, compare your results to those of another group member. If they did the same IAT, did your results look alike or did they differ. Why do you think they looked alike or differed? If they did a different IAT, try to think how you would have done had you taken theirs instead of the one you did take.