February 1, 2007: Allen R. McConnell (Miami University of Ohio)

• http://mcconnell.socialpsychology.org/

On the formation, change, and predictive utility of implicit and explicit attitudes

In this talk, a framework is outlined to account for the formation and revision of implicit and explicit attitudes. Specifically, we propose that implicit attitudes reflect associative knowledge built up slowly across time following repeated pairings of attitude objects and evaluations. On the other hand, explicit attitudes change more quickly because they respond to logic, language, and deliberate goals. Consequently, implicit and explicit attitudes change at different rates of speed, are differentially sensitive to different types of information, and can predict of different forms of behavior. A number of studies are presented that illustrate these outcomes and their importance.