Placing outgroup members in positive social contexts can reduce implicit bias. Different contexts may activate different associations of the group. Alternatively, contexts may act as cues for inhibiting bias. We applied the Quad model (Sherman et al., 2008) to address these possibilities. We also examined how motivation moderates these effects. Participants completed a Black-White evaluative priming task with primes presented in positive versus negative contexts and a measure of motivation to control prejudice. Results showed less implicit bias in positive versus negative contexts and that this effect was stronger among highly motivated participants. Modeling revealed that these effects were related to inhibition of biased associations, but not to changing the associations that were activated. Implications for prejudice reduction are discussed. © The Author(s) 2010.

Processes that permit control over automatic impulses are critical to a range of goaldirected behaviors. This chapter examines the role of self-control in implicit attitudes. It is widely assumed that implicit attitude measures reflect the automatic activation of stored associations, whose expression cannot be altered by controlled processes. We review research from the Quad model (Sherman et al., 2008) to highlight the importance of two self-control processes in determining the influence of automatically activated associations. The findings of this research indicate that processes relating to detecting appropriate responses and overcoming associations contribute to performance on implicit attitude measures. These two processes work together to enable self-control of automatic associations; one process detects that control is needed, and the other process overcomes the associations to permit correct behavior. Implications for understanding self-control dilemmas are discussed.

Using data from a US national probability sample of self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults (N = 662), this article reports population parameter estimates for a variety of demographic, psychological, and social variables. Special emphasis is given to information with relevance to public policy and law. Compared with the US adult population, respondents were younger, more highly educated, and less likely to be non-Hispanic White, but differences were observed between gender and sexual orientation groups on all of these variables. Overall, respondents tended to be politically liberal, not highly religious, and supportive of marriage equality for same-sex couples. Women were more likely than men to be in a committed relationship. Virtually all coupled gay men and lesbians had a same-sex partner, whereas the vast majority of coupled bisexuals were in a heterosexual relationship. Compared with bisexuals, gay men and lesbians reported stronger commitment to a sexual-minority identity, greater community identification and involvement, and more extensive disclosure of their sexual orientation to others. Most respondents reported experiencing little or no choice about their sexual orientation. The importance of distinguishing among lesbians, gay men, bisexual women, and bisexual men in behavioral and social research is discussed.

Individuals who are primarily internally motivated to respond without prejudice show less bias on implicit measures than individuals who are externally motivated or unmotivated to respond without prejudice. However, it is not clear why these individuals exhibit less implicit bias than others. We used the Quad model to examine motivation-based individual differences in three processes that have been proposed to account for this effect: activation of associations, overcoming associations, and response monitoring. Participants completed an implicit measure of stereotyping (Study 1) or racial attitudes (Study 2). Modeling of the data revealed that individuals who were internally (but not externally) motivated to respond without prejudice showed enhanced detection and reduced activation of biased associations, suggesting that these processes may be key to achieving unbiased responding.

The distinction between automatic processes and controlled processes is a central organizational theme across areas of psychology. However, this dichotomy conceals important differences among qualitatively different processes that independently contribute to ongoing behavior. The Quadruple process model is a multinomial model that provides quantitative estimates of 4 distinct processes in a single task: the likelihood that an automatic response tendency is activated; the likelihood that a contextually appropriate response can be determined; the likelihood that automatic response tendencies are overcome when necessary; and the likelihood that in the absence of other information, behavior is driven by a general response bias. The model integrates dual-process models from many domains of inquiry and offers a generalized, more nuanced framework of impulse regulation across these domains. The model offers insights into many central questions surrounding the operation and the interaction of automatic and controlled processes. Applications of the model to empirical and theoretical concerns in a variety of areas of psychology are discussed.

This research examines the mechanisms underlying group-based differences in implicit attitudes and malleability of implicit attitudes resulting from exposure to exemplars. We tested whether these effects are due to differences in activated associations or to the regulation of those associations. In Study 1, Black participants exhibited less pro-White bias and activation of pro-White and anti-Black associations compared with White participants. In Study 2, exposure to positive Black and negative White exemplars produced lower pro-White bias and less activation of biased associations. These findings indicate that group-based differences in implicit attitudes and exemplar exposure effects reflect variability in and malleability of automatic associations. Implications for understanding the role of contact on intergroup attitudes are discussed. © 2010 Hogrefe Publishing.

In three experiments, we used a novel Implicit Association Test procedure to investigate the impact of group memberships on implicit bias and implicit group boundaries. Results from Experiment 1 indicated that categorizing targets using a shared category reduced implicit bias by increasing the extent to which positivity was associated with Blacks. Results from Experiment 2 revealed that shared group membership, but not mere positivity of a group membership, was necessary to reduce implicit bias. Quadruple process model analyses indicated that changes in implicit bias caused by shared group membership are due to changes in the way that targets are evaluated, not to changes in the regulation of evaluative bias. Results from Experiment 3 showed that categorizing Black targets into shared group memberships expanded implicit group boundaries.

In two experiments, we investigated the relationships among stereotype strength, processing capacity, and the allocation of attention to stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information describing a target person. The results of both experiments showed that, with full capacity, greater stereotype strength was associated with increased attention toward stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information. However, when capacity was diminished, greater stereotype strength was associated with increased attention toward inconsistent versus consistent information. Thus, strong stereotypes may act as self-confirming filters when processing capacity is plentiful, but as efficient information gathering devices that maximize the acquisition of novel (disconfirming) information when capacity is depleted. Implications for models of stereotyping and stereotype change are discussed.