Implicit Measures

Implicit measures are cognition measurement procedures whose intent is to capture automatic psychological attributes that respondents are unwilling or unable to report. Measures of implicit processes originated in cognitive psychology and are used in studies that examine attitudes and feelings of respondents that they may not prefer to openly report due to embarrassment or apprehension or do not have the ability to recognize or report their mental states or inner experiences. This method is used in communication and media effects research that investigates individual-level processes such as attitude change toward racial minorities, processing of media information, and effects of media content on intentions and behaviors.

Although implicit measures cannot replace traditional self-report methodologies, they offer communication researchers important information on affect, motives, emotion, and cognitive processes ...