Question

Cognitive psychology-Implicit Association Task:

What do you think are some applications of the IAT? Design a variation of this task. This task should address a research question related to one of the applications you mentioned above.

Answer 1

Some of the applications of the Implicit Association Task (IAT):

1. Measurement of self-concept
2. Measurement of self-esteem
3. Assessment of criminals regarding the impact of prejudice on the commitment of crimes
4. Measurement of consumer attitudes towards various products
5. Assessment of the reasons for differences among various cultures as well as individual differences within cultures, across both genders and different age groups
6. Screening out of violence-prone students, in schools and colleges/universities, for their biased views/beliefs

A variation of this task, to assess the attitudes of students towards their teachers and peers, which would help address the research question implicit in the 6^th application as mentioned above, would be:

Having the teachers’/peers’ names as the categories and pairing them with pleasant/unpleasant words as the evaluation attributes, will help get an idea about individual students’ level of adjustment and interest in school and thereby relate the findings to their performance in school-specific domains such as academics, extra-curriculars, etc. This, however, needs to be kept entirely confidential, so that the student does not, in any way, feel inhibited to give his/her responses, and keeping in mind the value of the truthful responses elicited, in making a difference. Such an initiative will help devise interventions on the part of the school authorities, towards fixing the loopholes and enhancing students’ experiences and level of participation in school, thereby creating role models and great thinkers and doers.