Premium
Explicit and implicit attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities: The role of contact and participant demographics
Author(s) -
Murch Aidan J.,
Choudhury Tanveen,
Wilson Michelle,
Collerton Eleanor,
Patel Maya,
Scior Katrina
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1468-3148
pISSN - 1360-2322
DOI - 10.1111/jar.12429
Subject(s) - demographics , closeness , psychology , implicit attitude , social psychology , cognition , developmental psychology , demography , mathematical analysis , mathematics , sociology , neuroscience
Background Intellectual disability research has concentrated on self‐reported explicit attitudes with little focus on implicit attitudes. Such attitudes are evaluations which occur with or without conscious awareness, respectively. This investigation examined participants’ (N = 234) attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disabilities with reference to participants’ gender, age, level of education, frequency of contact and closeness. Method UK adults completed explicit ( ATTID ) and implicit attitude ( ST ‐ IAT ) measures, and provided demographics via an online survey. Results Participant demographics predicted explicit attitudes—with differing cognitive, affective and behavioural associations. Contact frequency was most significant. Implicit attitudes were not predicted, evidencing implicit–explicit attitude differences. Conclusions The results encourage more implicit–explicit attitude relationship research regarding disability. The associations between demographics, contact and implicit attitudes should be explored further. Research should question whether implicit attitudes reflect participants’ true beliefs—denoting less importance to demographics—or whether they reflect wider societal values rather than individuals’ attitudes.