Assessment of implicit personality self‐concept using the implicit association test (IAT): Concurrent assessment of anxiousness and angriness

This study explored the psychometric properties of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) when it is employed for the assessment of two personality traits within one sample. The sequence of an anxiousness and an angriness IAT was counterbalanced across 100 participants and the IATs' predictive validity for anxious versus angry behaviour after emotion inductions was examined and compared to direct self-report measures. The anxiousness IAT added incremental validity over direct measures for the prediction of anxious behaviour. The angriness IAT was affected by an order effect. When the angriness IAT was completed after the anxiousness IAT both tests correlated with r=.46 whereas they were not significantly correlated when the angriness IAT was completed first. Direct anxiousness and angriness measures were uncorrelated. Implications for the assessment of multiple implicit personality self-concept dimensions are discussed.