Although explicit attitudes have traditionally been used in predictive models of health behaviour, recent theorizing suggests that implicit attitudes might be more useful in predicting socially undesirable or addictive behaviours. In Studies 1 through 3, smokers’ explicit and implicit attitudes were examined to compare the predictive utility of each. Results confirmed that implicit attitudes are better at predicting impulse-driven behaviours, such as smoking consumption. Consequently, implicit attitudes also predict whether a quit attempt will be successful. In contrast, explicit attitudes are better at predicting deliberative outcomes, such as having intentions to quit, and making planned quit attempts. Extending these findings, in Studies 4 and 5, the effectiveness of a novel affirmation intervention designed to break the association between smoking and stress-reduction is evaluated. Preliminary results demonstrate that an affirmation intervention designed to break the smokers’ reliance on smoking as a means of coping with stress can have beneficial and sustainable effects in cessation outcomes. The impact on smokers’ implicit attitudes as a possible mediating role is discussed. Implications for more effective health interventions are also discussed.

Although explicit attitudes have traditionally been used in predictive models of health behaviour, recent theorizing suggests that implicit attitudes might be more useful in predicting socially undesirable or addictive behaviours. In Studies 1 through 3, smokers’ explicit and implicit attitudes were examined to compare the predictive utility of each. Results confirmed that implicit attitudes are better at predicting impulse-driven behaviours, such as smoking consumption. Consequently, implicit attitudes also predict whether a quit attempt will be successful. In contrast, explicit attitudes are better at predicting deliberative outcomes, such as having intentions to quit, and making planned quit attempts. Extending these findings, in Studies 4 and 5, the effectiveness of a novel affirmation intervention designed to break the association between smoking and stress-reduction is evaluated. Preliminary results demonstrate that an affirmation intervention designed to break the smokers’ reliance on smoking as a means of coping with stress can have beneficial and sustainable effects in cessation outcomes. The impact on smokers’ implicit attitudes as a possible mediating role is discussed. Implications for more effective health interventions are also discussed.

How do people allocate responsibility for inter-racial conflict (Black vs. White) under ambiguous circumstances? We tested the hypothesis that responsibility allocation reflects people’s implicit racial bias—with greater blame allocated to the Black protagonist by observers with stronger implicit anti-Black bias—but only when they identify the conflict in low-level terms (i.e., the specific momentary actions of the individuals). When observers identify the conflict in high-level terms (e.g., the intentions of the individuals), they are conscious of their biases and can suppress them in favor of less prejudicial judgments. White and Black participants read or listened to an ambiguous inter-racial conflict narrative, then allocated responsibility for the conflict and rated the protagonists’ personalities. The results showed the defendants were rated as more responsible when rated more positively for personality and affective reaction. Methodological reasons for the direction of the relationship are discussed, as are suggestions for future research. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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Cross-group paired individuals were administered an intervention to measure impacts of inmate interactions and friendships on anxiety and implicit bias among participants. Researchers predicted the intervention would decrease levels of racial anxiety, implicitness, prejudice, and racial color-blindness among entering freshmen in the College of Agriculture, Food & Environment at the University of Kentucky. Results indicated that the control group had no change in implicitness. The treatment group yielded no change in implicitness on four out of five experimental measures with the exception of decrease in communal orientation, thus altering the implicit bias of participants.

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Les campagnes de prévention reposent sur le postulat que l’individu prend connaissance des messages qui lui sont proposés. Or, l’un des moyens les plus simples pour résister à la persuasion est de ne pas s’y confronter. A suivre la théorie de la dissonance cognitive (Festinger, 1957), les individus ont tendance à s’exposer aux informations en accord avec leurs opinions et à éviter celles susceptibles de les remettre en cause. Les recherches menées dans ce domaine ne permettent pas de mettre systématiquement en évidence un évitement de l’information inconsistante avec les comportements et/ou les attitudes. Une première explication relève de problèmes méthodologiques dans le paradigme expérimental classiquement utilisé (Brock & Balloun, 1967). Ainsi, utiliser des mesures discrètes (Olson & Zanna,1979) et commencer par mesurer l’exposition avant l’attitude semble permettre la manifestation de l’effet (Lavoie & Thompson, 1972, Olson & Zanna, 1979). Une seconde explicitation tient dans la manière dont est mesurée l’exposition à l’information. Il semble nécessaire que l’individu soit réellement confronté à l’information (ou pense l’être) (Brock & Balloun, 1967). Une troisième explication renvoie à la mesure de l’attitude. Dans le paradigme expérimental traditionnellement utilisé, l’exposition sélective est étudiée au regard d’un comportement et/ou d’une attitude auto-rapportée. Or, d’une part un comportement n’est pas forcément consistant avec une attitude, et, d’autre part, les mesures explicites de l’attitude sont limitées par la désirabilité sociale et les facultés réduites d’introspection. L’objectif majeur de cette thèse consiste en la conception de protocoles expérimentaux permettant de mettre en évidence de l’exposition sélective envers l’information de prévention du tabagisme. Dans cet objectif, un outil de mesure implicite de l’attitude (Single Category Association Test Personalized, SC-IAT-P, Bardin, Perrissol, Py, Launay & Escoubès, en révision) a été spécialement développé. Les résultats obtenus attestent de l’utilité d’une telle mesure dans la mise en évidence du phénomène d’exposition sélective. Ils soulignent également, comme facteur de son émergence, l’engagement des individus dans leur comportement. De plus, concernant le tabagisme, seule la mesure implicite de l’attitude permet de prédire d’une part, un changement de comportement et, d’autre part, une exposition à l’information de prévention. / Preventive campaigns are based on the assumption that individual deals with this type of persuasive messages. However, one of the easiest ways to resist to the persuasion is to avoid these messages. According with the theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957), individuals tend to expose themselves to information in accordance with their opinions and avoid all those likely to challenge them. The results of various experiments in this area do not permit to identify a systematic avoidance of information inconsistent with the attitudes of individuals. A first explanation is methodological problems in the traditional experimental paradigm used (Brock and Balloun, 1967). Thus, the use of discrete measures (Olson & Zanna, 1979) and to begin the experimentation by measuring exposure before the attitude seems to produce results more in line with the postulates of the theory (Lavoie & Thompson, 1972, Olson & Zanna, 1979). A second explanation could be the measurement of the exposure to information. It seems necessary that the individual should be actually confronted with the information (or thinks he will be) (Brock & Balloun, 1967). A third explanation could be the use of self-reported measures of attitude and/or behavior. However, on the one hand, the behavior of an individual is not necessarily consistent with his attitude, and, secondly, explicit measures of attitude are limited by social desirability as well as reduced capacity of introspection from individuals. The main goal of this thesis is to design an experimental protocol for studying the phenomenon of selective exposure especially toward smoking. To this aim, a test to measure implicit attitudes (Single Category Implicit Association Test Personalized, Bardin, Perrissol, Py, Launay & Escoubès, under review) has been specially developed. The results demonstrate the usefulness of this measure in the highlighting of selective exposure. It also points out the commitment of individuals in their behavior as a factor in its emergence. Furthermore, smoking, only the measure of implicit attitude predicts a behavioral change and an exposure to preventive information.