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Applying the Implicit Association Test to language attitudes research

  • Andrew J. Pantos
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Responses to Language Varieties
This chapter is in the book Responses to Language Varieties

Abstract

Incorporating concepts from the domain of Implicit Social Cognition (ISC), this quantitative study measured participants’ implicit attitudes (through an audio Implicit Association Test) and explicit attitudes (through self report questionnaires) toward foreign and U.S. accented speech stimuli. The study’s results revealed a pro-U.S. accent bias on the implicit measure, but a proforeign accent bias on explicit measures, supporting the conclusion that these are separable attitude constructs resulting from distinct mental processes. This distinction in attitude type explains previous inconsistencies in language attitudes research and is supported theoretically by the Associative Propositional Evaluation Model, a dynamic dual processing conceptualization of the attitude formation process consistent with ISC.

Abstract

Incorporating concepts from the domain of Implicit Social Cognition (ISC), this quantitative study measured participants’ implicit attitudes (through an audio Implicit Association Test) and explicit attitudes (through self report questionnaires) toward foreign and U.S. accented speech stimuli. The study’s results revealed a pro-U.S. accent bias on the implicit measure, but a proforeign accent bias on explicit measures, supporting the conclusion that these are separable attitude constructs resulting from distinct mental processes. This distinction in attitude type explains previous inconsistencies in language attitudes research and is supported theoretically by the Associative Propositional Evaluation Model, a dynamic dual processing conceptualization of the attitude formation process consistent with ISC.

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