Measuring implicit and explicit attitudes toward foreign-accented speech
Andrew J. Pantos
The purpose of this research was to investigate the nature of listeners? attitudes
toward foreign-accented speech and the manner in which those attitudes are
formed. Traditionally, language attitudes researchers have relied on participant selfreports and interviews to measure listener reactions, claiming to capture both
affective and evaluative language attitudes with these introspective methodologies
(e.g., Cargile & Giles, 1997; Ryan, 1982). Outside the purview of language attitudes
research, however, psychologists have shown that implicit attitudes (affective
reactions) and explicit attitudes (evaluative reactions) are in fact two distinct
attitude constructs that must be measured separately and with unique
methodologies (e.g., Strack & Deutsch, 2004). In order to test whether implicit and
explicit language attitudes can (and should) be viewed as separate attitude
constructs, the present study measured 165 participants? implicit and explicit
attitudes toward US- and foreign-accented audio stimuli. Implicit attitudes were
measured with an audio Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee &
Schwartz, 1998), a test known to capture spontaneous associations, while explicit
attitudes were elicited through written questionnaire, a method which requires
introspective analysis (e.g., Rohner & Björklund, 2006). The explicit task was
contextualized as a fictional medical malpractice trial; participants heard the
recorded audio testimony of two actors (one US-accented and one Korean-accented)
portraying opposing expert witnesses. Four test conditions counterbalanced across
participants were created from the recordings. Participants rated the experts on
fourteen dependent variables (?traits?): believability, credibility, judgment,
knowledge, competence, trustworthiness, likeability, friendliness, expertise,
intelligence, warmth, persuasiveness, presentation style, and clarity of presentation.
Participants were also asked for their attitudes toward the speakers relative to each
other (i.e., Which doctor would you side with in this dispute?). The question of
speaker preference was posed as a binary choice, an 11-point slider scale measure,
and two confirmation questions asking participants to state how fair they thought
an outcome for each party would be.
This study?s hypothesis that participants? implicit and explicit attitudes toward the
same speaker would diverge was confirmed. The IAT results indicated an implicit
bias [D=.33, p<.05] in favor of the US-accented speaker, while the self-report results
indicated an explicit bias [F(2,121)=3.969, p=.021, ?2=.062] in favor of the foreignaccented speaker in the slider scale and confirmation questions [F(2,121)=3.708,
p=.027, ?2=.058, and F(2,121)=3.563, p=.031, ?2=.056]. While the binary choice
question showed a trend toward favoring the foreign-accented speaker, the result
was not significant. No discernable pattern was found to exist in attitudes toward
the speaker by trait. This study?s findings argue for the recognition of both implicit
and explicit attitude constructs and the integration of implicit attitudes
measurement methodologies into future language attitudes research. Additional
theoretical implications of these findings for future language attitudes research are
also discussed, including implications for the conceptualization of an appropriate
cognitive processing model for language attitudes.
References:
Cargile, A. C., & Giles, H. (1997). Understanding language attitudes: Exploring
listener affect and identity. Language and Communication, 17(3), 195-217.
Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual
differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 74(6), 1464-1480.
Rohner, J. C., & Björklund, F. (2006). Do self-presentation concerns moderate the
relationship between implicit and explicit homonegativity measures? Scandinavian
Journal of Psychology, 47(5), 379-85.
Ryan, E. B. (1982). Prolegomena for developing a social psychological theory of
language attitudes. In E. B. Ryan & H. Giles (Eds.), Attitudes Toward Language
Variation: Social and Applied Contexts. London: Arnold.
Strack, F. & Deutsch, R. (2004). Reflective and impulsive determinants of social
behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 220-247.