What kind of behaviors are affected by implicit attitudes

Interventions targeting attitudes to increase PA, should ensure that implicit and explicit attitudes regarding PA are concordant. Peer Review reports. Explicit attitudes are a key construct in many behavioral theories and a relevant determinant across a wide range of health behaviors [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. They are defined as conscious attitudes that are formed deliberately, which implies that people can self-report on their explicit attitudes e.

Explicit attitudes are composed of instrumental and affective components [ 6 , 7 ]. Whereas the instrumental component refers to anticipated positive or negative consequences that would result from performing a behavior, the experiential component is understood as emotion-laden judgments about a behavior.

In recent decades, implicit attitudes have gained increased attention to serve as additional constructs for predicting and explaining health behaviors. They can be understood as mental associations between a concept e.

The strength of these associations manifests automatically into behavioral tendencies without the need for reflection. This has been demonstrated for a variety of behaviors [for example] [ 9 , 10 ]. To capture these associations, mostly reaction time paradigms are used.

An example is the Implicit Association Test IAT in which participants have to sort words or pictures to given categories as quickly as possible [ 11 ].

The underlying idea is that the stronger a negative or positive association in mind, the quicker is a person with categorizing the stimuli to the respective category. Dual-process models, such as the Reflective-Impulsive Model [ 12 ] or the Associative Propositional Evaluation Model APE [ 13 ] depict that both explicit and implicit attitudes can be associated with behavior.

The relationship between behavior on the one hand, and implicit and explicit attitudes on the other hand, may however differ for different types of behaviors. For example, implicit attitudes are more strongly associated with spontaneous behavior and explicit attitudes with deliberate behavior [ 14 , 15 , 16 ].

For certain behaviors, such as voting behavior [ 17 ] or physical activity [ 9 , 18 ], the two attitude-types can also have a joint effect. Furthermore, it has been shown that implicit and explicit attitudes towards one behavior do not always coincide: they can be discrepant, meaning that the explicit attitude towards a behavior is for example negative whereas the implicit attitude is positive or vice versa. This is called the implicit-explicit discrepancy IED.

In the study at hand, the effect of IED on the relationship between explicit attitude and behavior and explicit attitude and intention is investigated. The existence of IED has been demonstrated in several studies [ 19 , 20 , 21 ] and different factors have been discussed as possible sources for IED, such as self-presentational concerns e.

According to the APE, there exist two independent systems of reasoning. First, the slow-learning system, which operates by using interconnected associations in memory that are based on contiguity and similarity.

Hence, learning takes place by the establishment of associations in memory that are formed slowly over time. Implicit attitudes are attributed to the slow-learning system.

The second system, the fast-learning system, is assumed to rely on logic at a higher level of cognitive processing, which fits with the conceptualization of explicit attitudes and indicates that people can have control over the expression of their explicit attitudes and that they can be changed more quickly [ 26 ].

Also, as implicit and explicit attitudes are ascribed to two different systems, they might be influenced by different processes. For example, in one study explicit attitudes were changed by means of verbally presented behavioral information whereas implicit attitudes were changed by subliminally presented primes [ 27 ].

When only one type of change method is used, asymmetric changes can occur [ 21 , 28 ] e. Although dissonance has repeatedly been demonstrated, only a few studies assessed the effect of IED on behavior [ 19 , 20 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Concerning this relationship, inconsistent patterns were found. Also Rydell and colleagues [ 29 ] demonstrated that diverging implicit and explicit attitudes towards a specific target person resulted in dissonance and in additional information processing about that person.

In order to minimize these negative feelings, participants were motivated to engage in a more thorough information processing and to examine relevant information. It was suggested that due to the discrepancy, the focus on the object chocolate was intensified and thereby increased the occurrence of disinhibited eating. These findings demonstrate that implicit and explicit attitudes can be in conflict, which in turn impacts behavior.

More precisely, explicit attitudes were not a significant predictor for alcohol consumption when IED was strong but a significant predictor when IED was low. Also in the context of physical activity, it has been shown that IED exists and that it impacts behavior [ 33 , 34 ]. For example, the lower IED was in a sample of fitness club exercisers, the more successful they were in achieving their ideal exercise frequency [ 33 ].

In another study, discrepancy between explicit and implicit health measures regarding PA was negatively associated with the length to participate in a one year long exercise program [ 34 ]. It is, however, unclear whether IED also acts as a moderator of the relationships between explicit attitude and physical activity PA as it was the case in the study of Karpen et al. PA behavior has been addressed by means of numerous health interventions [ 35 ], as increased activity is known to have significant health benefits [ 36 ].

Therefore, more insight into additional influencing factors, such as the effect of IED, could be helpful. Thus far, research has found that social-cognitive determinants such as a more positive explicit attitude towards PA, stronger perceived norms i. Although intention does not always result in the translation of behavior — a phenomenon called the intention-behavior gap — it is one of the most proximate determinants of behavior and vital in the process of initiating a behavior [ 43 ].

Also regarding PA, a higher intention is more likely to result in PA behavior [ 38 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Moreover, a more positive explicit attitude towards PA does not only result in a higher intention but also in greater PA levels [ 5 , 39 , 47 ]. Therefore, explicit attitudes have been classified as an important and central predictor for PA engagement [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ] and it is recommended that interventions reinforce attitude change in order to facilitate PA engagement and adherence [ 52 ].

In recent studies, also implicit attitudes were shown to be associated with PA levels [ 9 , 18 , 53 , 54 ]. For example, exercisers hold more positive automatic associations towards PA than non-exercisers [ 53 ] and implicit attitudes predict PA behavior above and beyond the aforementioned social-cognitive determinants [ 9 ].

Moreover, a former study showed that implicit attitudes moderate the relationships between certain explicit cognitions i. Until now, it is clear, that explicit attitudes play, besides other explicit cognitions social norms, social modeling, self-efficacy and implicit attitudes, a significant role in the prediction of PA. It remains unclear however, whether explicit attitudes are still strongly associated with PA behavior when explicit attitudes are discrepant from the implicit attitude which is also associated with PA.

Karpen et al. This in turn makes it harder for the individual to judge about and to move towards the target behavior. Based on this, we first explored whether IED is present in our sample and we expect it to be existent Hypothesis 1. Secondly, we investigated whether the predictive power of explicit attitudes regarding PA behavior is also moderated by IED.

According to social-cognitive models, explicit attitudes are strongly associated with intention. Intention does not always translate into actual behavior [ 43 ], however, it is the most proximal determinant for PA behavior [ 45 , 56 , 57 , 58 ]. As high IED has shown to weaken the effect of explicit attitude on behavior [ 32 ], we argue that high IED should also weaken the effect of explicit attitude on intention.

Hence, on top of the second hypothesis, we investigated whether IED also moderates the relationship between explicit attitude and intention. We expected that the relationship between explicit attitude and intention is moderated by IED with greater IED leading to a weaker relationship between explicit attitude and intention and lower IED leading to a stronger relationship between explicit attitude and intention Hypothesis 3 [H3]; Fig.

Gaining insight into these effects could help to understand whether interventions aiming to increase PA intention and behavior by changing or fostering explicit attitudes have to take discrepant attitudes into account. The study at hand is part of a larger study in which we investigated how implicit attitudes synergistically interact with explicit cognitions in the prediction of PA intention and behavior [ 55 ].

In the current study, the emphasis is on the moderating effect of IED. A three-wave longitudinal study was conducted with measurements at baseline T0 and follow-ups after one month T1 and after three months T2. The BeeLab holds a database of students who are willing to participate in experiments, which was used to recruit participants for this study. Most students in the database were German or Dutch native speakers and, therefore, the study was conducted in both these languages.

If a student had indicated German or Dutch as mother tongue, then he or she was invited to participate via email. No further inclusion criteria needed to be met.

At baseline, students were invited out of which participated i. The low response rate could be explained by the fact that the subject pool is not updated regularly and thus also contains students who are finished with their studies. At T1, students participated and after three months, students took part. All students who met the inclusion criteria of having German or Dutch as mother tongue received an invitation via email stating the subject of the study i.

Further, it was explained that there were no risks related to the participation and that all data would be gathered and analyzed anonymously. When willing to participate, students could choose their preferred timeslot on two given days. An e-mail reminder was sent one day before participating. On the day of participation, participants were welcomed in the lab, received instructions and provided written informed consent. Since we know that PA intention and behavior are also strongly associated with social norms, social modeling and self-efficacy [ 38 , 59 ], we assessed these constructs as well in order to be able to demonstrate the effect of IED on intention and behavior, independent of these other cognitions.

In the questionnaire, the following constructs were assessed in the following order: explicit attitude comprised of perceived pros and perceived cons, social norms and social modeling, self-efficacy, intention, and physical activity levels. Implicit attitudes towards PA were assessed by using the SC-IAT which showed adequate internal reliability and predictive validity in previous studies [ 18 , 60 , 61 ].

In the computerized tasks, participants were asked to indicate as fast and accurately as possible whether presented stimuli belonged to one of two given categories. The task consisted of two blocks which contained 24 practice trials and 72 test trials.

The underlying assumption is that the stronger an implicit association is, the faster the reaction. To ensure that reaction times were not influenced by the order of the blocks, the order of the two blocks was counterbalanced.

Throughout the whole SC-IAT, labels for the two categories were displayed on the left or right upper part of the screen. If the presented stimulus belonged to the category that was displayed on the left part of the screen, participants had to press e on their keyboard. When the stimulus belonged to the category that was presented on the right upper part of the screen, the participant had to press i on the keyboard.

The words were presented in a random order and equally frequent. In case that an incorrect answer was given, a red X appeared on the screen until the participant corrected the answer as recommended by Greenwald et al. The selection procedure for the stimuli was as follows: based on their valence and arousal norms, positive and negative words were chosen from the Affective Norms for English Words ANEW [ 63 ].

Words representing PA were selected from the studies of Conroy et al. All selected words were translated forth and back from English to Dutch and German by native speaking researchers of the University. The pre-test was done among 26 German and 22 Dutch native students of the University. Love, freedom, joy, success , and party were selected as positive words translated from German and Dutch ; depression, demon, lie, infection , and poison were selected as negative words translated from German and Dutch.

The seven words running, biking, kickboxing, sprint, jogging, lifting weights , and sit-ups were selected as words to represent PA translated from German and Dutch. By means of the Inquisit Millisecond 4. The script was based on the manual of Karpinski and Steinman [ 60 ]. The implicit attitude was indicated by d-scores that were calculated by the software using the improved scoring algorithm as described by Greenwald et al.

Afterwards, the score gets divided by the standard deviation of all correct response times of the test trials. Reaction times of our sample did not exceed this range. Positive scores indicate a positive implicit attitude and negative scores indicate a negative implicit attitude. The higher the score, the more positive the implicit attitude. Based on the procedure as described in Karpinski and Steinman 60 we assessed the internal reliability of the SC-IAT by dividing the SC-IAT into thirds blocks of 24 test trials and calculated a separate d-score for each third.

Latter result is comparable to the results of other studies, which demonstrated weak test-retest reliabilities for the SC-IAT regarding other topics [ 65 ] as well as in the context of PA [ 66 ]. The questions to assess explicit cognitions were based on the I-Change model [ 46 , 56 ], which was used in former studies to assess PA related cognitions [ 41 , 42 , 67 ].

Being moderately active means an increase in heart rate that is induced by activities such as brisk walking [ 68 ]. Explicit attitude was assessed on a 5-point Likert Scale with two scales measuring perceived pros and perceived cons , each expressed by 10 statements. Items were reversed, so that higher items represent the perception of more advantages.

Lower scores indicate the perception of fewer disadvantages. For the analysis, a sum score for the con scale and a sum score for the pro scale were created.

Both scale scores were added to represent one scale score for explicit attitude range 14—70 that was used in the analyses. The higher the score, the more positive the explicit attitude. Social norms and social modeling were each assessed by four questions on a 5-point Likert scale. Whereas norm items assessed expectations of family members, partners, and friends, with respect to PA, modeling items assessed the PA behavior of those.

The higher the score, the stronger the norms. Hence, social modeling items were included separately in the analyses. Self-efficacy was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Based on their low factor loadings and their content i. A higher score indicates higher levels of self-efficacy. Total minutes of an activity were calculated by multiplying the frequency of an activity by its duration.

The total minutes in turn were multiplied by the respective intensity in order to get an activity score for each activity Wendel-Vos et al. By the sum of all different activity scores, a total activity score was obtained.

The higher the score, the more active a person is. All analyses were done with SPSS version In advance, differences between the German and Dutch versions of the tests were tested but not detected. Based upon the sum of the squared loadings of items on the general factor. Omega hierarchical estimates factor saturation and is used as an indicator of internal structure [ 72 ]. Values were calculated with the R program [ 73 ] and are displayed in the measurements section above.

This procedure is based on a number of previous studies on IED [ 19 , 29 , 74 ]. The index indicates where participants fall within the distribution of the sample on the explicit versus implicit measure, thus demonstrating the size of the discrepancy.

The more the attitudes deviate from each other e. For an indication of the reliability of the IED index, we created three indices and conducted test-retest correlations between the indices that were created for the measurements at baseline and after one and three months. For the second hypothesis and in order to assess cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of the moderating effect of IED on the relationship between explicit attitude and PA, three regressions were conducted. To assess long-term effects, the same regression was repeated but with PA at T1 and T2 as dependent variable.

To investigate the third hypothesis and short-term and long-term effects of IED on the relationship between explicit attitude and intention, we conducted three regressions each with intention at baseline, at T1 and at T2 as dependent variable. Baseline variables were again added in three steps of a regression. Age and gender in step one, explicit attitudes, social norms, social modeling, self-efficacy, implicit attitudes and IED in step two, and the IED by explicit attitude interaction in step three.

Main effects of the regression analyses were interpreted in the second step of the regression and the two way interaction in the third step [ 75 ]. Cases with missing values were not included in the analyses. No other variables predicted dropout. We included gender, a significant predictor of dropout, in all further analyses. Descriptive statistics and correlations between the study variables at baseline are presented in Table 1. IED had a range of 0. The distribution of IED scores at baseline is displayed in Fig.

IED was not correlated with any of the measured explicit cognitions. Also, explicit attitude was correlated with intention, self-efficacy, social modeling by family members, PA, and social modeling by colleagues. Implicit attitudes were not significantly correlated to any other explicit cognitions. Do I like members of that group? In short, is this thing good or bad? One way that attitudes can be measured is by asking people to report their feelings.

Alternatively, attitudes might be inferred indirectly, based on performance on a task designed to measure associations between concepts and evaluations. For example, imagine a deck of playing cards that, instead of four suits, had examples of flowers and insects, such as tulip and beetle, and words with good or bad meaning, such as wonderful and horrible. The ease of putting flowers and insects with good things compared to bad things is an indirect indication of attitudes.

This example describes the logic of the Implicit Association Test. The two ways of measuring attitudes described in the previous paragraph are quite different. The other does not require any direct thought about how one feels. Instead, a respondent sorts concepts as quickly as possible, and attitudes are inferred based on the performance. These two types of measurement approaches are interpreted to reflect different types of attitudes—explicit attitudes and implicit attitudes.

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Correspondence to Wesley Buckwalter. Reprints and Permissions. Implicit attitudes and the ability argument. Philos Stud , — Download citation. Published : 15 September Issue Date : November Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative.

Skip to main content. Search SpringerLink Search. Download PDF. Abstract According to one picture of the mind, decisions and actions are largely the result of automatic cognitive processing beyond our ability to control. Introduction According to one conception of the mind popular for over three decades, cognitive processes can be grouped into two basic systems Evans ; Moskowitz et al.

Call this the ability argument against implicit attitudes: 1. S does not have the ability to control implicit attitude p. Control of implicit attitudes The first premise of the ability argument is that we do not have the ability to control implicit attitudes.