Laboratory models of unconscious cognition enabled research on implicit social cognition

Evidence

Importantly, the psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive treatments just mentioned all lacked an essential ingredient, that is, they lacked reliable laboratory models of their focal phenomena that could support efficient testing and development of theory. The missing ingredient is now available, as cognitive psychologists have succeeded in producing several varieties of unconscious cognition reliably in the laboratory (see overviews by Greenwald, 1992a; Kihlstrom, 1987), and investigations of implicit social cognition are well underway (see Bornstein & Pittman, 1992; Uleman & Bargh, 1989). The methods of research on implicit memory, in particular, are applicable to the implicit attitude, self-esteem, and stereotype phenomena reviewed in this article. Perhaps the most significant remaining challenge is to adapt these methods for efficient assessment of individual differences in implicit social cognition. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 273

Categorization

• QUESTION: The stated open challenge — efficient individual-difference assessment of implicit cognition — is exactly the gap the IAT later filled; worth noting the historical trajectory.
• XREF: Directly relevant to the reading purpose: this defines ‘implicit’ measures as distinct from professed/explicit ones. — connects to: Implicit attitudes are past-experience traces not introspectively identified by the actor. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 80; Implicit social cognition research reveals prejudice operating below conscious awareness; The implicit association test measures bias via response latency on concept-sorting tasks. — Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, Christian Orthodoxy, Religious…, 25 (+2 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 273

Broader Connections

• Implicit social cognition research reveals prejudice operating below conscious awareness #expands (0.80)
• Implicit measures reveal biased feelings people consciously disavow #expands (0.80)
• The implicit association test measures bias via response latency on concept-sorting tasks. #expands (0.75) — Wade C. Rowatt and Lewis M. Franklin, Christian Orthodoxy, Religious…, 25