Test-retest reliability of the Implicit Association Test for measuring shyness: Inclusion of malleability of implicit shyness

The Implicit Association Test of Shyness (Shyness IAT: Aikawa & Fujii, 2011) provides an indirect assessment of shyness by measuring associations of self (vs. other) with shyness-related (vs. sociability-related) words. In this study we examined the test–retest reliability of the Shyness IAT. Thirty-five participants responded twice to the Shyness IAT with a time lag of one month. The correlation coefficient between the two time points was .54 (p = .001), confirming an adequate level of test-retest reliability. Indeed, changes in explicit and implicit shyness between the two time points were not related to sociable behavior during the one month period. Implications of the results for the assessment of personalities using IATs as well as relevant future directions are discussed.