Mixed Methods in the Collection of Gender-Relevant Data The Implicit Association Test

1. Mixed Methods in the Collection of Gender-Relevant Data The Implicit Association Test Karla Hoff April 30, 2012

2. 19th century view of people –Unbounded rationality Deliberation (given preferences and opportunities) Behavior All behavior is –or can be viewed as if it is—the outcome of an explicit choice.

3. Modern view based on experiments in psychology—Bounded rationality, which interacts with implicit constructs Deliberation (given preferences and opportunities) Behavior • Implicit constructs • implicit attitudes • implicit stereotypes • implicit self-esteem Implicit constructs are the introspectively unidentified (or incorrectly identified ) trace of past experience that mediates responses. • They facilitate action by providing mental short-cuts, but can lead to errors • They may provide one way to understand societal rigidity—since past institutions/experience can shape implicit constructs long after the forces that gave rise to these institutions have changed (Hoff and Pandey 2006, Hoff and Stiglitz 2010).

4. Measuring implicit attitudes • The Implicit Association Test (IAT) • Invented in 1998 (Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz 1998) • Brings under scrutiny new aspects of cognition that were previously ignored • The test entails sorting of exemplars into categories • The test is administered to a single individual at a time. • However, to show you how the IAT works, I will ask you as a group to take the test.

5. Example Here I present a very short version of an IAT using Inquisit software I say: “You will see a word that fits one of the categories. If it’s a word for a career, say LEFT. If it’s a word under the family category, say RIGHT…. “ I note % correct and response time in two treatments: one in which categories are or may be evaluatively congruent, and one in which they are not. The IAT score is the normalized difference in response time between non-congruent and congruent treatments. The key idea of the IAT is that the speed of mental computation can provide insight into implicit attitudes. The test captures a process of unconscious judgment. It’s an indicator of the strength of evaluative association between two concepts (e.g. male-profession vs. female-family). The assumption is that if 2 concepts are evaluatively congruent, then trials that involve such parings should be easier than pairings that associate less congruent concepts We’re interested in the way that exposure to new ideas can change implicit attitudes and categories, and thereby change what we see, how we evaluate it, and how we behave.. “

6. Review of the IAT Items assigned to left-key response… Items assigned to right-key response… CareerMale FamilyFemale versus CareerFemale FamilyMale • The logic of the IAT is that the sorting task is easier, the more strongly the two concepts that share a response option (left or right)have come to be associated The task requires sorting of exemplars from 4 concepts using 2 response options

7. Exposure to new ideas/images can change implicit constructs Deliberation (given preferences and opportunities) Behavior Exposure to new images and ideas • Implicit constructs • implicit attitudes • implicit stereotypes • implicit self-esteem Quotas for women as heads of village government enacted in India in 1992(Beaman et al. 2009, 2012)

8. Beaman et al. results— Exposure to village women leaders changed men’s implicit attitudes … LeadershipMale DomesticFemale versus LeadershipFemale DomesticMale An IAT was done with the choices: Random assignment of reservation across villages in 1998 and 2005 In unreserved villages— men have strong bias against female leaders, as measured by difference in response time in 2nd vs. 1st treatment In villages with 2 “doses” of women leaders— men’s bias against women leaders was eliminated

9. …and as a result, material outcomes changed (& no change opportunities can explain this) • Elimination of gender gap in literacy of teenagers • Increase in women winning office in unreserved seats • Supported by an observed improvement in men’s evaluation of their actual women leaders (with and without controls for their characteristics and actions) • Increase in girls’ aspirations (and no change in that of boys)

10. What other factors might change implicit constructs? Deliberation Behavior Implicit constructs Exposure to new images and ideas • Exposure of remote Indian villages to soap operas of modern Indian families (Jensen-Oster 2009): • Impact: lower fertility, new notions of women’s autonomy—changes that can’t be explained by changes in opportunities or in information—But no IATs were done, so the channels of influence are not clear. • Exposure of villages to women’s self-help & microfinance groups (Bihar, India): • Intended impact: to increase women’s agency. In work with Rahmen & Rao, I will test that impact, using a variety of explicit and implicit measures.

11. Conclusion • Contra the standard economic model, not all behavior is the outcome of a choice • Intentions cannot overrule implicit attitudes because the latter operate unconsciously. • There is evidence that suggests that implicit attitudes predict discrimination against social groups, and do so better than explicit attitudes • Tests can measure implicit attitudes, & • Policies can change these attitudes.