Temporal Stability of Implicit and Explicit Measures

A common assumption about implicit measures is that they reflect early experiences, whereas explicit measures are assumed to reflect recent experiences. This assumption subsumes two distinct hypotheses: (a) Implicit measures are more resistant to situationally induced changes than explicit measures; (b) individual differences on implicit measures are more stable over time than individual differences on explicit measures. Although the first hypothesis has been the subject of numerous studies, the second hypothesis has received relatively little attention. The current research addressed the second hypothesis in two longitudinal studies that compared the temporal stability of individual differences on implicit and explicit measures in three content domains (self-concept, racial attitudes, political attitudes). In both studies, implicit measures showed significantly lower stability over time (weighted average r = .54) than conceptually corresponding explicit measures (weighted average r = .75), despite comparable estimates of internal consistency. Implications for theories of implicit social cognition and interpretations of implicit and explicit measures are discussed.