1. The Relational Responding Task: Toward a New Implicit Measure of Beliefs
Jan De Houwer
Niclas Heider
Adriaan Spruyt
Arne Roets
and
Sean Hughes
Ghent University, Belgium
In press. Frontiers in Psychology (Method paper)

2. I. The “implicit” = “association” fallacy
Hughes et al. (2011, Psychological Record)
De Houwer (2014, Soc. and Pers. Psych. Compass)
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

3. Automatic, gut reaction …
Two modes of behavior
Controlled response …
Automatic, gut reaction …
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

4. Conflated with two types of representations
Controlled response …
Propositions
Associations
Automatic, gut reaction …
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

5. Propositions: Beliefs about states in the world “Beer is tasty”
“Beer causes a hangover”
“I have a presentation tomorrow”
=> Are valid / invalid
=> Contains information about type of relation
Associations: Wires between representations
“Beer” “Good”
“Beer” “hangover”
=> Are not valid / invalid (but simple are)
=> Does not contain information about type of relation
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

6. Conflated with two types of representations
Controlled response …
Propositions
Associations
Automatic, gut reaction …
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

7. => Does not imply that they cannot also mediate automatic responses
Propositions: Are required for inferences which can lead to controlled responses
=> Does not imply that they cannot also mediate automatic responses
Associations: Allow for automatic spreading of activation which can support automatic responses
=> Does not imply that propositional representations cannot mediate automatic responses
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

8. Propositions could mediate both controlled and automatic responding
(De Houwer, 2014, SPPC)
Associations
Propositions
Propositions
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Functional-cognitive framework – ICPS Amsterdam – 13 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

9. II. Measuring implicit beliefs
IRAP: Barnes-Holmes et al. (2010, Psychological Record)
RRT: De Houwer et al. (in press, Frontiers in Psychology)
Distinction Procedure, Effect, and Theory – Jan De Houwer - 09/06/2006
Propositions – ICPS Amsterdam – 14 March 2015
Learning – Gdansk – 7 July 2007

10. Introduction
- “implicit belief” = automatic activation or endorsement of a proposition (Shidlovski et al., 2014)
- Measuring implicit beliefs can provide more info than associations
e.g., “I AM GOOD”
e.g., “I WANT TO BE GOOD”
e.g., “I SHOULD BE GOOD”
- New procedure to measure implicit beliefs: Relational Responding Task
=> same logic as IRAP: “act as if you believe something”
=> but more user friendly than IRAP

11. Racism study (De Houwer et al., in press)
Target task:
Act “as if” you believe that Flemish people are more intelligent than immigrants (pro-Flemish task)
Act “as if” you believe that immigrants are more intelligent than Flemish people (pro-immigrant task)
Items: 10 pro-Flemish and 10 pro-immigrant statements
- Flemish people are more intelligent than immigrants
- Immigrants are not as intelligent as Flemish people
- Flemish people are dumber than immigrants
- Immigrants are more intelligent than Flemish people
Inducer task:
synonyms of true (e.g., correct) and not true (e.g., wrong)

12. FLEMISH INTELLIGENT IMMIGRANT INTELLIGENT
TRUE FALSE
Flemish people are more intelligent than immigrants

13. FLEMISH INTELLIGENT IMMIGRANT INTELLIGENT
TRUE FALSE
CORRECT

14. IMMIGRANT INTELLIGENT FLEMISH INTELLIGENT
TRUE FALSE
Flemish people are more intelligent than immigrants

16. Body image study (Heider et al., in preparation)
In the actual body image RRT, five statements implied that “I AM thin” (e.g., “I possess a slim body”) or “I AM overweight” (e.g., “I am heavy”). Negations of these ten statements led to five statements that imply “I AN NOT overweight” (e.g., “I do not weigh much”) or “I AM NOT thin” (e.g., “I do not possess a slim body”).
In the ideal body image RRT, five statements implied “I WANT TO BE thinner” (e.g., “I desire to weigh less”) or “I WANT TO BE heavier” (e.g., “I desire to be chubbier”). Negations of these ten statements led to five statements that imply “I DO NOT WANT TO BE heavier” (e.g., “I don’t desire to be chubby”) “I DO NOT WANT TO BE thinner” (e.g., “I don’t desire to weigh less”).

17. High ( n = 31) and low body dissatisfied participants ( n = 33) differed significantly on their EDI scores, M = 19.1 (SD = 4.6) vs. M = 46.4 (SD = 5.2), t(62) = 22.35, p < .001.
As expected, we found a significant interaction of body dissatisfaction and type of RRT, F(1, 62) = 8.80, p = .004, ηρ2 = .12.
Actual BI Desired BI
Satisfied
Dissatisfied

19. Future
- Further evidence that type of relation matters (AM, WANT, SHOULD, ..)
- Prediction of actual behavior over and above implicit beliefs
- Automaticity features
- Versions that can capture multiple beliefs
- Don’t expect too much …:
No single measure can perfectly predict any behavior