Research Symposium

BIO

Hi, I'm Ethan Bixby. I was raised in Sarasota, Florida, and have been interested in psychology for a while. I am currently a 2nd year student on the accelerated graduation path, and hoping to continue my education at FSU for either a doctorate or masters. I am always looking to get to know more professors and people within the psychological field, so please swing by our poster!

How Well Can Participants Predict Their Automatic Attitudes Towards Close Others?

Abstract

Relationships are important for positively improving our lives. Often, these relationships are impacted by the automatic “gut” attitudes we have towards others. Prior research has displayed that these automatic attitudes can show positive or negative perceptions of a relationship more accurately than a participant’s own words. In addition, it has been found that participants can predict their automatic attitudes about general topics, however there is yet to be a study on how well participants can do so about close others. To test this, FSU Undergrad students in relationships were instructed through a series of tasks where they self-report the relationships between themselves and key figures such as parents, best friends, and partners in their lives. Then these participants, through a program coded within Inquisit, made predictions about their automatic attitudes and then completed IATs (Implicit Association Tests) to measure their automatic attitudes. The study is still currently ongoing, however preliminary results have indicated there is a moderate relationship between the predictions of participants and their automatic attitudes, and we expect data to continue on this trend. If this does continue to be the case, future research can be done into various relationships, such as providing insight into romantic relationships.

Keywords: Automatic Attitudes, Romantic Partners, Psychology