The Relationship between target salience and attribute valence in the Implicit Association Test (IAT)

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is designed to reveal unconscious attitudes toward target categories by measuring how easily people categorise targets with pleasant and unpleasant attributes. However, Rothermund and Wentura (2001) have shown that IAT effects may also be due to salience asymmetries within target and attribute categories. They suggested that the more salient target is compatible with unpleasant attributes, not because they are both unpleasant, but because these targets and attributes are both highly salient. Two experiments employed a Go-Nogo task used by Rothermund and Wentura to manipulate the salience of the target categories. Across both experiments we found that, contrary to Rothermund and Wentura’s claims, the salient target category is more easily categorised with pleasant items. This finding is discussed with reference to possible salience, associative and affective mechanisms.