What is the difference between preference or attitude and association?
An ‘association’ is the degree to which one concept is connected to, or associated with, another concept. For example, a person may associate science with males more than females because of beliefs about different male and female competencies or an observation of different participation rates of men and women in science. This type of association would reflect a stereotype: the association of a concept (science) with an attribute (male or female). A ‘preference’ or ‘attitude’ is a specific type of association. An attitude is the association between a concept and an evaluation such as good-bad, positive-negative, or pleasant-unpleasant. The IAT can measure the association between concepts and evaluations, which are interpreted as automatic preferences or attitudes. For example, a stronger association between Young and good versus Old and good on an Age IAT would suggest an implicit preference for Young versus Old.
