Implicit Measures of Attitudes

In recent years, no development in the social sciences has been more exciting than the discovery of implicit attitudes and the pursuit of their measurement. Yet the challenges of developing suitable measures have surprised us all. Different techniques yielded different results, which has inspired richer theory building and produced important insights into the nature of human judgment and the mental representation of preferences. We now see longstanding debates and controversies in new ways. What more could a group of scientists hope for than to make such great progress, and at such a rapid rate? This wonderful book offers a terrific review of these accomplishments and identifies the challenges with which implicit attitude researchers will be grappling in the years to come.--Jon Krosnick, PhD, Departments of Communication, Political Science, and Psychology, Stanford University


This is a book for serious students and practitioners of attitudes research. It offers comprehensive coverage of the new wave of implicit measures, written by some of the top researchers in the field. The chapters provide strong theoretical grounding as well as practical information on the 'how-tos' of each measure. This book would be an ideal text for graduate-level courses on attitudes.--Jeffrey Sherman, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis


The measurement of socially significant attitudes has taken a giant leap forward due to the recent development of implicit measures, which are capable of assessing relatively automatic evaluations. This volume presents a scholarly yet very accessible treatment of these new measures, describing them in detail and evaluating their merits. Additionally, the volume shows how these measurement advances have permitted us to address new and fundamental issues about the nature of human judgment. This is a superb, integrative treatment of a major advance in the social and behavioral sciences. I will certainly use it as a text in my social psychology graduate proseminar; it is also likely to be used in advanced undergraduate courses devoted to attitudes, judgment, and assessment.--Charles M. Judd, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder

The study of implicit attitudes is the most significant development in attitude theory and research in recent years. This timely volume features analyses by the major contributors to this important development. The chapter authors skillfully present both the promise and the uncertainties of the many implicit measures that have been proposed. This book is essential reading not only for attitude researchers, but also for all researchers who wish to understand whether they should incorporate implicit measures into their studies. I would definitely use the book in a graduate course in attitudes.--Alice H. Eagly, PhD, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University


-Wittenbrink and Schwarz drew together a distinguished group of authors whose expertise concerns how best to examine the interrelations among attitudes, social judgments, and behaviors....Reader-researchers should consider this book a valuable resource, one that nicely characterizes current views on simple as well as complex measures of implicit attitudes.--Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1/7/2007ƒƒ Wittenbrink and Schwarz have assembled an impressive group of experts on attitude measurement....I would highly recommend this book for anyone thinking about incorporating the use of implicit attitude measures into his or her research and feel that the book would make an excellent addition to any graduate-level course on attitudes or attitude measurement. --PsycCRITIQUES, 1/7/2007