Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T19:05:36.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Development of an Implicit Overall Well-Being Measure Using the Implicit Association Test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Darío Díaz*
Affiliation:
Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (Spain)
Javier Horcajo
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Amalio Blanco
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Darío Díaz. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Jurídicas y Humanidades. Universidad a Distancia de Madrid. Camino de La Fonda N° 20. 28400 Collado-Villalba. Madrid (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Usually, well-being has been measured by means of questionnaires or scales. Although most of these methods have a high level of reliability and validity, they present some limitations. In order to try to improve well-being assessment, in the present work, the authors propose a new complementary instrument: The Implicit Overall Well-Being Measure (IOWBM). The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was adapted to measure well-being by assessing associations of the self with well-being-related words. In the first study, the IOWBM showed good internal consistency and adequate temporal reliability. In the second study, it presented weak correlations with explicit well-being measures. The third study examined the validity of the measure, analyzing the effect of traumatic memories on implicit well-being. The results showed that people who remember a traumatic event presented low levels of implicit well-being compared with people in the control condition.

El procedimiento más empleado para la evaluación del bienestar consiste en la utilización de cuestionarios de auto-informe. A pesar de que la mayor parte de estos instrumentos poseen un alto grado de fiabilidad y validez, presentan también algunas limitaciones. Por ello, para intentar complementarlos, en esta investigación se propone, mediante la adaptación del Implicit Association Test (IAT), un nuevo instrumento: la Medida Implícita de Bienestar General (MIBG), que proporciona una evaluación indirecta del bienestar mediante la medición de las asociaciones del Yo (vs. No-Yo) con las categorías Bienestar (vs. Malestar). En el primer estudio, la MIBG mostró una buena consistencia interna y una aceptable fiabilidad temporal. En el segundo estudio presentó débiles correlaciones con las medidas explícitas de bienestar. Para profundizar en la validez de esta medida se desarrolló un tercer estudio experimental que analizó la eficacia de la MIBG para recoger el efecto que tiene recordar un acontecimiento traumático sobre las medidas implícitas del bienestar, comprobando que, frente al grupo control, los participantes que recordaron un acontecimiento traumático mostraron implícitamente menores niveles de bienestar.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asendorpf, J.B., Banse, R., & Mücke, D. (2002). Double dissociation between implicit and explicit personality self-concept: The case of shy behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 380393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Atienza, F.L., Pons, D., Balaguer, I.& García-Merita, M. (2000). Propiedades psicométricas de la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida en adolescentes. Psicothema, 12, 314319.Google Scholar
Banse, R. (1999). Automatic evaluation of self and significant others: Affective priming in close relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 16, 803821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banse, R., Seise, J., & Zerbes, N. (2001). Implicit attitudes towards homosexuality: reliability, validity, and controllability of the IAT. Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie, 48, 145160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barden, J., Maddux, W. W., Petty, R. E., & Brewer, M. B. (2004). Contextual moderation of racial bias: The impact of social roles on controlled and automatically activated attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 522CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargh, J.A. (1997). The automaticity of everyday life. Advances in Social Cognition, 10, 161.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. (1982). A self-presentational view of social phenomena. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, I. V. (2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 242261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanco, A., & Díaz, D. (2005). El bienestar social: su concepto & medición. Psicothema, 17, 580587.Google Scholar
Bosson, J. K., Swann, W. B., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2000). Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: The blind men and the elephant revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 631643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Briñol, P., Horcajo, J., Becerra, A., Falces, C., & Sierra, B. (2002). Cambio de actitudes implícitas. Psicothema, 14, 771775.Google Scholar
Briñol, P., Horcajo, J., Becerra, A., Falces, C., & Sierra, B. (2003). Equilibrio cognitivo implícito. Psicothema, 15, 375380.Google Scholar
Briñol, P., Horcajo, J., De la Corte, L., Valle, C., Gallardo, I., & Díaz, D. (2004). El efecto de la ambivalencia evaluativa sobre el cambio de actitudes. Psicothema, 16, 373377.Google Scholar
Briñol, P., Petty, R. E., & Wheeler, S. C. (2006). Discrepancies between explicit and implicit self-concepts: Consequences for information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 154170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burkett, B., & Whitley, G. (1998). Stolen valor: How the Vietnam generation was robbed of its heroes and its history. Dallas, TX: Verity.Google Scholar
Cabañero, M.J., Richard, M., Cabrero, J., Orts, M.I., Reig, A., & Tosal, B. (2004). Fiabilidad & validez de la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida de Diener en una muestra de mujeres embarazadas & puérperas. Psicothema, 16, 448455.Google Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P. E., & Rodgers, W. L. (1976). The quality of American life: Perceptions, evaluations and satisfactions. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. (1959); Communication discrepancy and attitude change: A dissonance theory approach. Journal of Personality, 27, 386396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Earlbaum.Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1990). Essentials of psychological testing. (5th ed.). New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Cunningham, W. A., Preacher, K. J., & Banaji, M. R. (2001). Implicit attitude measures: Consistency, stability, and convergent validity. Psychological Science, 12, 163170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dasgupta, N., & Greenwald, A. G. (2001). On the malleability of automatic attitudes: Combating automatic prejudice with images of admired and disliked individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 800814.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Jong, P. J., Pasman, W., Kindt, M., & van den Hout, M.A. (2001). A reaction time paradigm to assess (implicit) complaint-specific dysfunctional beliefs. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 101113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Devine, P. G. (1989). Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Díaz, D., Blanco, A., Horcajo, J., & Valle, C. (2007). Aplicación del modelo del estado completo de salud al estudio de la depresión. Psicothema, 19, 286294.Google Scholar
Díaz, D., Horcajo, J., & Blanco, A. (2009). Explicit and implicit well-being evaluation. A multistate-multitrait approach. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Díaz, D., Rodríguez-Carvajal, R., Blanco, A., Moreno-Jiménez, B., Gallardo, I, Valle, C., & van Dierendonck, D. (2006). Validación española de las Escalas de Bienestar Psicológico de Ryff. Psicothema, 18, 572577.Google Scholar
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 7175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diener, E., & Lucas, R. (1999). Personality and sujective well-being. In Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations af hedonic psychology (pp. 213227). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Diener, E., Lucas, R., & Oishi, S. (2002). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and life satisfaction. In Snyder, C. R. & Lopez, S. J. (Eds). Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 6373). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, A. L. (1957). The social desirability variable in personality assessment and research. New York: Dryden.Google Scholar
Egloff, B., & Schmukle, S. (2002). Predictive validity of an Implicit Association Test for Assessing Anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 14411455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eid, M. (2000). A Multitrait-Multimethod Model with Minimal Assumptions. Psychometrika, 65, 241261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49, 709724.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fazio, R. H. (1990). Multiple processes by which attitudes guide behavior: The MODE model as an integrative framework. In Zanna, M. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 23, pp. 75109). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fazio, R., & Olson, M. (2003). Implicit measures in social cognition research: Their meaning and uses. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 297327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazio, R. H., Sanbonmatsu, D. M, Powell, M. C., & Kardes, F. R. (1986). On the automatic activation of attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 229238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fujita, F., & Diener, E. (2005). Life satisfaction set point: Stability and change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 158164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102, 427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., Banaji, M. R., Rudman, L. A., Farnham, S. D., Nosek, B. A., & Mellott, D. S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem, and self-concept. Psychological Review, 109, 325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., & Breckler, S. J. (1985). To whom is the self presented? In Schlenker, B. R. (Ed.), The self and social life (pp. 126145). New York: Mcgraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Greenwald, A. G., & Farnham, S. D. (2000). Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 10221038.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., Mcghee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 14641480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., & Nosek, B. A. (2001). Health of the Implicit Association Test at age 3. Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie, 48, 8593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: 1. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenwald, A. G., Poehlman, T. A., Uhlmann, E., & Banaji, M. R. (in press). Understanding and using the implicit association test: III. Meta-analysis of predictive validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.Google Scholar
Hofmann, W., Gawronski, B., Gschwendner, T., Le, H., & Schmitt, M. (2005). A meta-analysis on the correlation between the implicit association test and explicit self-report measures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 13691385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horcajo, J. (2005). Cambio de actitudes automáticas: determinantes, procesos & consecuencias. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.Google Scholar
Javad Liaghatdar, M., Jafari, E., Reza Abedi, M., & Samiee, F. (2008). Reliability and validity of the Oxford Happiness Inventory among university students in Iran. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 11, 310313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., Hoshino-Browne, E., & Correl, J. (2003). Secure and defensive high self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 969978.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahneman, D., Diener, E., & Schwarz, N. (1999). Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell-Sage.Google Scholar
Karpinski, A. (2004). Measuring self-esteem using the Implicit Association Test: The role of the other. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 2234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keyes, C. (1998). Social Well-Being. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 121140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keyes, C., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. (2002). Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 10071022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, D.Y. (2003). Voluntary controllability of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Social Psychology Quarterly, 66, 8396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, D.Y. (2004). The implicit life satisfaction measure. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7, 236262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, D.Y., & Greenwald, A.G. (1998, May). Voluntary controllability of implicit cognition: Can implicit attitudes be faked? Paper presented at meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lucas, R., Clark, A., Georgellis, Y., Diener, E. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 527539.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNally, R. (2003). Progress and controversy in the study of posttraumatic stress disorder. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 229252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nisbett, R., & Wilson, T. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2002). Harvesting implicit group attitudes and beliefs from a demonstration website. Group Dynamics, 6, 101115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nosek, B., Greenwald, A., & Banaji, M. (2005). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: II. Method variables and construct validity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 166180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nosek, B. A., Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (2006). The Implicit Association Test at age 7: A methodological and conceptual review. In Bargh, J. A. (Ed.), Social Psychology and the Unconscious: The Automaticity of Higher Mental Processes (pp. 265292). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Olson, M. A., & Fazio, R. H. (2001). Implicit attitude formation through classical conditioning. Psychological Science, 12, 413417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, M., & Fazio, R. (2005). Reducing the influence of extrapersonal associations on the Implicit Association Test: Personalizing the IAT. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 653667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orne, M.T. (1962). On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications. American Psychologist, 17, 776783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petty, R. E., Fazio, R. H., & Briñol, P. (2008). Attitudes: Insights from the new implicit measures. New York: Psychology Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberg, M. J. (1969). The conditions and consequences of evaluation apprehension.. In Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (Eds.), Artifact in behavioral research (pp. 279349). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ryan, R., & Deci, E. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryff, C. (1989). Beyond Ponce de Leon and life satisfaction: New directions in quest of successful aging. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 12, 3555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryff, C., & Keyes, C. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmukle, S., & Egloff, B. (2004). Does the Implicit Association Test for Assessing Anxiety measure trait and state variance? European Journal of Personality, 18, 483494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teachman, B. A., Gregg, A. P., & Woody, S. R. (2001). Implicit associations for fear-relevant stimuli among individuals with snake and spider fears. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 226235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teachman, B., & Woody, S. (2003). Automatic processing in spider phobia: Implicit fear associations over the course of treatment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 100109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tedeschi, J., Schlenker, B., & Bonoma, T. (1971). Cognitive dissonance: Private ratiocination or public spectacle? American Psychologist, 26, 685695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Unkelbach, C., Fiedler, K., Bayer, M., Stegmüller, M., & Danner, D. (2008). Why positive information is processed faster: The density hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 3649.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vargas, P., von Hippel, W., & Petty, R. E. (2004). Using “partially structured” attitude measures to enhance the attitude-behavior relationship. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 197211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vázquez, C., Pérez-Sales, P., & Matt, G. (2006). Post-traumatic stress reactions following the March 11, 2004 terrorist attacks in a Madrid community sample: A cautionary note about the measurement of psychological trauma. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 9, 6174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, A.S. (1993). Two conceptions of happiness: Contrast of personal expressiveness (eudaemonia) and hedonic enjoyment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 678691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wegener, D., & Petty, R. (1997). The flexible correction model: The role of naive theories of bias in bias correction. In Zanna, M. P. (Ed), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29, pp. 141208). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, L., & Task Force on Statistical Inference, APA Board of Scientific Affairs. (1999). Statistical methods in psychology journals: guidelines and explanation. American Psychologist, 54, 594604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, T. D., Lindsley, S., & Schooler, T. Y. (2000). A model of dual attitudes. Psychological Review, 107, 101126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittenbrink, B., Judd, C. M., & Park, B. (2001). Spontaneous prejudice in context: Variability in automatically activated attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 815827.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, A. (1995). The harmony of illusions: Inventing post-traumatic stress disorder. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar