Assessment of Participants’ Theories of Intelligence : Reliability and Validity of the Implicit Association Test

In the present research, participants’ implicit theory of intelligence was examined through explicit (questionnaire) and implicit (Implicit Association Test : IAT) measures. Relations between the explicit and implicit measures and the dependent variables (affect and performance) were examined in a task performance situation. The participants in Study 1 were 40 undergraduate and graduate students. The retest reliability of the Implicit Association Test was confirmed. No significant correlation was found between scores on the Implicit Association Test and explicit measures, such as social desirability. Study 2 examined relations between self-reported and other-rated state anxiety and participants’ explicit/implicit theories of intelligence. The participants were 34 undergraduate and graduate students. The results revealed that the explicit measure of participants’ theory of intelligence was related to their scores on the self-report scale, whereas the implicit measure was related to other-rated spontaneous behavior. The present research suggests that additional study of not only the traditional conscious domain but also the unconscious domain is necessary.