An implicit non-self-report measure of attitudes to speeding: development and validation.

Speeding is a major contributor to road trauma and attitudes toward speeding are hypothesised to be a key determinant of the behaviour. Attitudinal research is limited by reliance on self-report measures and the attendant possibility of reporting biases. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) aims to measure attitudes without reliance on self-report, by assessing the association between a target-concept and an evaluation, in terms of reaction time for compatible versus non-compatible pairings. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate an IAT to measure attitudes to speeding. Forty-five licensed drivers completed the speed-related IAT, and drove a driving simulator. Participants also completed a questionnaire that assessed self-reported attitudes to speeding, and several variables theoretically related to attitudes, including speeding behaviour. Observed IAT results suggested that attitudes toward speeding are negative, and were generally consistent with results derived from the simulated driving and self-reported behaviours, beliefs, and attitudes. Thus, the speed-related IAT appears to be a valid measure of attitudes toward speeding, which might be used to measure attitudes in road safety research without reliance on self-report.

[1]  T. Razavi,et al.  Self-Report Measures: An Overview of Concerns and Limitations of Questionnaire Use in Occupational Stress Research , 2001 .

[2]  Michael A. Olson,et al.  Implicit measures in social cognition. research: their meaning and use. , 2003, Annual review of psychology.

[3]  Laurie A. Rudman,et al.  Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes and Backlash Toward Agentic Women , 2001 .

[4]  V. Moore,et al.  VEHICLE SPEED AND RISK OF A SEVERE CRASH , 1995, Epidemiology.

[5]  Melanie C Steffens,et al.  Implicit Association Test: separating transsituationally stable and variable components of attitudes toward gay men. , 2003, Experimental psychology.

[6]  Lars Åberg,et al.  Drivers’ decision to speed: A study inspired by the theory of planned behavior , 2006 .

[7]  Patrick De Pelsmacker,et al.  The effect of norms, attitudes and habits on speeding behavior: scale development and model building and estimation. , 2007, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[8]  R. F. Soames Job,et al.  Beliefs and Attitudes about Speeding and its Countermeasures , 2006 .

[9]  K. Fiedler,et al.  Faking the IAT: Aided and Unaided Response Control on the Implicit Association Tests , 2005 .

[10]  Rajesh Subramanian,et al.  Analysis of Speeding-Related Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes , 2005 .

[11]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  The role of negative affectivity in employee reactions to job characteristics: Bias effect or substantive effect? , 1999 .

[12]  Laurie A. Rudman,et al.  Using the Implicit Association Test to investigate attitude-behaviour consistency for stigmatised behaviour , 2001 .

[13]  Brian A. Nosek,et al.  Harvesting implicit group attitudes and beliefs from a demonstration web site , 2002 .

[14]  M. Larimer,et al.  Predicting drinking behavior and alcohol-related problems among fraternity and sorority members: examining the role of descriptive and injunctive norms. , 2004, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[15]  D. Buss,et al.  Personality psychology : recent trends and emerging directions , 1989 .

[16]  Patricia Delhomme,et al.  Speed behaviour as a choice between observing and exceeding the speed limit , 2005 .

[17]  Blair T. Johnson,et al.  Heart versus reason in condom use: implicit versus explicit attitudinal predictors of sexual behavior. , 2001, Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychologie.

[18]  T. Lajunen,et al.  Driving experience, personality, and skill and safety-motive dimensions in drivers' self-assessments , 1995 .

[19]  T. Lajunen,et al.  Impression management and Self-Deception in traffic behaviour inventories , 1997 .

[20]  R. Banse,et al.  Implicit attitudes towards homosexuality: reliability, validity, and controllability of the IAT. , 2001, Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychologie.

[21]  Dawn K. Wilson,et al.  Role of psychosocial factors in obtaining self-reports of alcohol use in a DUI population. , 1994 .

[22]  Julie Hatfield,et al.  A challenge to the assumed generalizability of prediction and countermeasure for risky driving: different factors predict different risky driving behaviors. , 2007, Journal of safety research.

[23]  A. Greenwald,et al.  Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[24]  Brian A. Nosek,et al.  Health of the Implicit Association Test at age 3. , 2001, Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie : Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Psychologie.

[25]  S G Stradling,et al.  Determinants of intention to commit driving violations. , 1992, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[26]  A. Greenwald,et al.  The Implicit Association Test as a measure of implicit consumer attitudes , 2001 .

[27]  Lawrence J Cook,et al.  Effect of repeal of the national maximum speed limit law on occurrence of crashes, injury crashes, and fatal crashes on Utah highways. , 2004, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[28]  Malte Friese,et al.  Do features of stimuli influence IAT effects , 2006 .

[29]  J. de Houwer,et al.  Implicit views of the self in social anxiety. , 2006, Behaviour research and therapy.

[30]  Neal J. Roese,et al.  Twenty years of bogus pipeline research : a critical review and meta-analysis , 1993 .

[31]  Torbjørn Rundmo,et al.  Attitudes towards traffic safety, driving behaviour and accident involvement among the Norwegian public , 2004, Ergonomics.

[32]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Prediction of goal directed behaviour: Attitudes, intentions and perceived behavioural control , 1986 .

[33]  Delroy L. Paulhus,et al.  Socially Desirable Responding: Some New Solutions to Old Problems , 1989 .

[34]  C Corbett,et al.  EXPLANATIONS FOR "UNDERSTATING" IN SELF-REPORTED SPEEDING BEHAVIOUREXPLANATIONS FOR "UNDERSTATING" IN SELF-REPORTED SPEEDING BEHAVIOUR , 2001 .