Attitudes Toward Student Athletes Implicit Association Tasks

Abstract

The Attitudes Toward Student Athletes Implicit Association Tasks (Tran et al., 2024) were developed to measure college students’ implicit attitudes toward student-athletes in the United States. Utilizing the methodology of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), these tasks specifically assess perceptions of intelligence and pleasantness, exploring how these implicit stereotypes vary based on the intersection of race (Black vs. White) and athlete status.

The development of the tasks was theoretically informed by the Stereotype Content Model (SCM; Fiske et al., 2002), which posits that stereotypes often revolve around dimensions of warmth (pleasantness) and competence (intelligence). The study employed three distinct IAT paradigms to capture nuanced biases:

• The Intelligence IAT, which evaluates implicit attitudes regarding the intelligence of White student-athletes compared to White non-athletes.
• The Race IAT, which compares implicit intelligence attitudes toward White student-athletes and Black student-athletes.
• The Pleasantness IAT, which assesses attitudes toward the likability of White student-athletes and White non-athletes.

The tasks were constructed using E-Prime 2.0 software, incorporating pilot testing to ensure appropriate stimulus selection. Currently, no published reliability or validity data are available for these measures.

Keywords

Implicit Association Test, IAT, Student Athletes, Stereotype Content Model, Implicit Attitudes, Race, Intelligence, Pleasantness, College Students

Authors

Tran, Alisia G. T. T., Eustice, Kristi L., Lam, Christina K., Holzapfel, Jennifer, Mintert, Jeffrey S.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitudes Toward Student Athletes Implicit Association Tasks is to quantitatively measure the subtle, non-conscious biases held by college students regarding student-athletes. These implicit measures provide insight into automatic associations that may underlie explicit attitudes or behavioral outcomes.

Specifically, the tasks aim to assess implicit perceptions related to two critical dimensions derived from the SCM: perceived intelligence (competence) and likability (warmth). A key objective is the comparative analysis of these implicit attitudes, examining how perceptions differ when comparing student-athletes versus non-athletes, and crucially, when comparing White student-athletes versus Black student-athletes, thereby addressing potential implicit racial biases within the context of collegiate athletics.

Construct

The scale measures implicit attitudes, defined as associative links in memory that influence judgment and behavior without conscious awareness. These tasks operationalize implicit attitudes across two primary psychological constructs:

• Intelligence (Competence): This construct assesses the strength of the automatic association between the target group (student-athletes) and concepts related to intelligence versus unintelligence. The tasks specifically measure implicit perceptions of cognitive competence ascribed to student-athletes compared to non-athletes, and Black student-athletes compared to White student-athletes.
• Pleasantness (Warmth/Likability): This construct measures the automatic association between the target group and concepts related to pleasantness or likability. This dimension reflects the implicit affective evaluation or perceived warmth attributed to student-athletes.

Validity

As of the initial publication in 2024, no specific data regarding the validity of the Attitudes Toward Student Athletes Implicit Association Tasks have been provided or published by the authors. Researchers intending to use this measure should note that construct, criterion, and concurrent validity have yet to be established.

Reliability

The reliability of these implicit measures, typically assessed through internal consistency or test-retest correlations (especially for IAT D-scores), is currently unknown. The authors have not reported specific reliability coefficients for the three distinct IAT tasks utilized (Intelligence IAT, Race IAT, and Pleasantness IAT).

Factor Analysis

Given that the Implicit Association Test methodology generates a single difference score (D-score) for each comparison task, traditional exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis was not required nor conducted for the Attitudes Toward Student Athletes Implicit Association Tasks.

Instrument

Test Type: Task (Implicit Association Test variants)

Format: Electronic (Developed using E-Prime 2.0 software)

Language Available: English (U.S. context)

Population Group: College Students

Age Group: Typically 18–25 years (Standard college student population)

Population Details: U.S.-based college students

Test Methodology: The assessment relies on the Implicit Association Test (IAT) paradigm. This method measures the strength of automatic associations by recording the speed and accuracy of responses when pairing target concepts (e.g., student-athlete) with attribute concepts (e.g., intelligent vs. unintelligent). The resulting metric is the D-score, which quantifies the magnitude of the implicit association effect.

Keywords

D-score, IAT, Implicit Bias, Race in Sports, College Athletics, Social Cognition, E-Prime, Likability

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: 0000-0002-3212-2315 (Tran, Alisia G. T. T.)

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in the source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2024 (Year of publication of the foundational study).

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding formal permissions required for academic use or any associated fees for the use of the tasks is not specified in the primary reference.

Reference’s

Tran, A. G. T. T., Eustice, K. L., Lam, C. K., Holzapfel, J., & Mintert, J. S. (2024). Foul play: Implicit and explicit attitudes toward student-athletes. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Advance online publication. The full reference can be accessed via the digital object identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000538

Items of the Attitudes Toward Student Athletes Implicit Association Tasks

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

• Number of Items: Not specified
• Stimuli: Facial images of White student-athletes, Black student-athletes, and White non-athletes (5 images per group)
• Rating Scale: Implicit measures based on response latencies (IAT D-scores)
• Format: Electronic