A Thousand Words Are Worth More Than a Picture? The Effects of Stimulus Modality on the Implicit Association Test

Abstract

Implicit Association Tests (IATs) employing pictures as target stimuli usually yield smaller scores than those with verbal target stimuli, suggesting weaker attitudes in the former compared to the latter case. As the attribute dimension of attitude IATs is typically represented by words, we hypothesized the target modality effect to be actually due to a modality match between targets and attributes. We manipulated stimulus modality independently for targets and attributes and confirmed our assumption in two attitude IATs (Experiment 1: flower/insect, Experiment 2: old/young): Employing verbal attributes, IAT scores were smaller for pictorial compared to verbal targets. However, the target modality effect disappeared or was even reversed if pictures were employed as attributes. Applying the ReAL model revealed that this modality match effect is mediated by recoding processes. Importantly, evaluative associations remained unaffected by modality match and reflected equal or even stronger preferences for pictorial compared to verbal targets.

Predicting Behavior With Implicit Measures: Disillusioning Findings, Reasonable Explanations, and Sophisticated Solutions

“…In this sense, recoding represents a source of variance that might distort the predictive validity of the IAT score for behavioral criteria. For more detailed elaborations on this issue, and for findings of recoding being unrelated to the construct of interest (i.e., attitudes), we refer to the work of Meissner and Rothermund (2013, 2015a,b).…”

“…Numerous studies revealed that the ReAL model parameters are valid measures of the processes they stand for (Meissner and Rothermund, 2013; Meissner and Rothermund, 2015a,b; see also Koranyi and Meissner, 2015; Jin, 2016). Most importantly, the ReAL model’s association parameters reflect the direction and the strength of evaluative associations for each of the two target concepts (Meissner and Rothermund, 2013).…”

“…This holds true even in IAT applications where recoding processes pushed the overall IAT score in the opposite direction (Meissner and Rothermund, 2015a). The association parameters turned out to be sensitive to manipulations of evaluation (Meissner and Rothermund, 2013) but immune against artificial, non-evaluative influences (i.e., salience asymmetries and modality match effects; Meissner and Rothermund, 2015a,b). Additionally, and in line with theoretical considerations (e.g., Fazio and Towles-Schwen, 1999), association parameters correlated with self-reported attitudes in non-sensitive attitude domains (consumer preferences; Meissner and Rothermund, 2013).…”

From Likert scales to images: Validating a novel creativity measure with image based response scales

“…Both the predictive scoring algorithm and stronger associations evoked by images may be reasons for achieving shorter length (Meissner & Rothermund, 2015).…”

“…Second, responding to image-based items may require less attention, reducing test taker fatigue. Finally, image stimuli evoke stronger preferences in respondents than verbal stimuli, providing for reduced length of imagebased tests (Lugtigheid & Rathod, 2005;Meissner & Rothermund, 2015).…”