Patterns of implicit and explicit attitudes: I. Long-term change and stability from 2007 to 2016
Abstract
Using 4.4 million tests of implicit and explicit attitudes measured continuously from an Internet population of U.S. respondents over 13 years, we conducted the first comparative analysis using time-series models to examine patterns of long-term change in six social-group attitudes: sexual orientation, race, skin tone, age, disability, and body weight. Even within just a decade, all explicit responses showed change toward attitude neutrality. Parallel implicit responses also showed change toward neutrality for sexual orientation, race, and skin-tone attitudes but revealed stability over time for age and disability attitudes and change away from neutrality for body-weight attitudes. These data provide previously unavailable evidence for long-term implicit attitude change and stability across multiple social groups; the data can be used to generate and test theoretical predictions as well as construct forecasts of future attitudes.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Although explicit and implicit bias against minorities are decreasing, there is nevertheless a trend toward nationalist governments and policies in recent years.
“Although in many cases explicit and implicit bias against minorities are decreasing [67], there is nevertheless a trend toward nationalist governments and policies in recent years.”
From Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice (2019) · cites this paper as [67]
Cites
R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing
R Core Team (2000) · doi:10.32614/r.manuals · Cited by 355,706 · see citing works
Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test
Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. K. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1464 · Cited by 9,210 · see citing works
(1999) · Cited by 6,104 · see citing works
Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: I. An improved scoring algorithm.
Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.197 · Cited by 5,815 · see citing works
Self-citationAutomatic Time Series Forecasting: The forecast Package for R
Hyndman, R. J., & Khandakar, Y. (2008) · Journal of Statistical Software · doi:10.18637/jss.v027.i03 · Cited by 3,548 · see citing works
Social Identity and Intergroup Relations.
Glassner, B., & Tajfel, H. (1985) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2069233 · Cited by 3,250 · see citing works
Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biases
Caliskan, A., Bryson, J. J., & Narayanan, A. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aal4230 · Cited by 2,887 · see citing works
Gawronski, B., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2006) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.5.692 · Cited by 2,598 · see citing works
(2010) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.47-6626 · Cited by 2,234 · see citing works
Choosing Prediction Over Explanation in Psychology: Lessons From Machine Learning
Yarkoni, T., & Westfall, J. (2017) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691617693393 · Cited by 1,930 · see citing works
Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice habit-breaking intervention
Devine, P. G., Forscher, P. S., Austin, A. J., & Cox, W. T. L. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.06.003 · Cited by 1,259 · see citing works
Pervasiveness and correlates of implicit attitudes and stereotypes
Nosek, B. A., Smyth, F. L., Hansen, J. J., Devos, T., Lindner, N. M., Ranganath, K. A., Smith, C. T., Olson, K. R., Chugh, D., Greenwald, A. G., et al. (2007) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463280701489053 · Cited by 1,247 · see citing works
Self-citationSocial Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression
Tilly, C., Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (2001) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2655372 · Cited by 1,101 · see citing works
Time Series Analysis: With Applications in R
Cryer, J. D., & Chan, K. (2010) · Springer texts in statistics · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-75959-3 · Cited by 682 · see citing works
Reducing implicit racial preferences: II. Intervention effectiveness across time
Lai, C. K., Skinner, A. L., Cooley, E., Murrar, S., Brauer, M., Devos, T., Calanchini, J., Xiao, Y. J., Pedram, C., Marshburn, C. K., et al. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/xge0000179 · Cited by 624 · see citing works
Understanding implicit and explicit attitude change: A systems of reasoning analysis.
Rydell, R. J., & McConnell, A. R. (2006) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.6.995 · Cited by 594 · see citing works
Nosek, B. A. (2007) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00477.x · Cited by 512 · see citing works
Reducing implicit racial preferences: I. A comparative investigation of 17 interventions.
Lai, C., Marini, M., Lehr, S. A., Cerruti, C., Shin, J., Joy-Gaba, J. A., Ho, A. K., Teachman, B., Wojcik, S., Koleva, S. P., et al. (2014) · Journal of experimental psychology. General · doi:10.1037/a0036260 · Cited by 482 · see citing works
Self-citationThe cost of racial animus on a black candidate: Evidence using Google search data
Stephens-Davidowitz, S. I. (2014) · Journal of Public Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.04.010 · Cited by 443 · see citing works
The Bias of Crowds: How Implicit Bias Bridges Personal and Systemic Prejudice
Payne, B. K., Vuletich, H. A., & Lundberg, K. B. (2017) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2017.1335568 · Cited by 385 · see citing works
Social Structure, Infectious Diseases, Disasters, Secularism, and Cultural Change in America
Grossmann, I., & Varnum, M. E. W. (2015) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614563765 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Cultural Change: The How and the Why
Varnum, M. E. W., & Grossmann, I. (2017) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691617699971 · Cited by 294 · see citing works
Breaking the prejudice habit: Mechanisms, timecourse, and longevity
Forscher, P. S., Mitamura, C., Dix, E. L., Cox, W. T. L., & Devine, P. G. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2017.04.009 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Time series analysis for psychological research: examining and forecasting change
Jebb, A. T., Tay, L., Wang, W., & Huang, Q. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00727 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Pachankis, J. E., Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Wang, K., Burton, C. L., Crawford, F. W., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167217741313 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Hehman, E., Flake, J. K., & Calanchini, J. (2017) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550617711229 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
Temporal Stability of Implicit and Explicit Measures
Gawronski, B., Morrison, M., Phills, C. E., & Galdi, S. (2017) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167216684131 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Implicit and Explicit Racial Attitudes Changed During Black Lives Matter
Sawyer, J., & Gampa, A. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167218757454 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Implicit Attitudes and Beliefs Adapt to Situations
Dasgupta, N. (2013) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-407236-7.00005-x · Cited by 139 · see citing works
A Mechanism-Based Approach to the Identification of Age–Period–Cohort Models
Winship, C., & Harding, D. J. (2008) · Sociological Methods & Research · doi:10.1177/0049124107310635 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Schmidt, K., & Nosek, B. A. (2009) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.12.003 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Albarracín, D., & Vargas, P. T. (2010) · doi:10.1002/9780470561119.socpsy001011 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Implicit Preferences for Straight People over Lesbian Women and Gay Men Weakened from 2006 to 2013
Westgate, E. C., Riskind, R. G., & Nosek, B. A. (2015) · Collabra · doi:10.1525/collabra.18 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Moving a Mountain: The Extraordinary Trajectory of Same-Sex Marriage Approval in the United States
Rosenfeld, M. J. (2017) · Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · doi:10.1177/2378023117727658 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
McNulty, J. K., Olson, M. A., Jones, R. E., & Acosta, L. M. (2017) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797617702014 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Implicit Self-Evaluations Predict Changes in Implicit Partner Evaluations
McNulty, J. K., Baker, L. R., & Olson, M. A. (2014) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797614537833 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Schmidt, K., & Axt, J. R. (2016) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2016.34.6.559 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Weight stigma as a psychosocial contributor to obesity.
Puhl, R. M., Himmelstein, M. S., & Pearl, R. L. (2020) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/amp0000538 · Cited by 452 · see citing works
Social Media Elements, Ecologies, and Effects
Bayer, J. B., Triệu, P., & Ellison, N. B. (2020) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050944 · Cited by 410 · see citing works
Weight bias among health care professionals: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Lawrence, B. J., Kerr, D., Pollard, C. M., Theophilus, M., Alexander, E., Haywood, D., & O’Connor, M. (2021) · Obesity · doi:10.1002/oby.23266 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Implicit bias reflects systemic racism
Payne, B. K., & Hannay, J. W. (2021) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2021.08.001 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Ecological and cultural factors underlying the global distribution of prejudice
Jackson, J. C., van Egmond, M., Choi, V. K., Ember, C. R., Halberstadt, J., Balanovic, J., Basker, I. N., Boehnke, K., Buki, N., Fischer, R., et al. (2019) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0221953 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Patterns of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes: IV. Change and Stability From 2007 to 2020
Charlesworth, T. E. S., & Banaji, M. R. (2022) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/09567976221084257 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Self-citationUsing natural language processing to analyse text data in behavioural science
Feuerriegel, S., Maarouf, A., Bär, D., Geissler, D., Schweisthal, J., Pröllochs, N., Robertson, C. E., Rathje, S., Hartmann, J., Mohammad, S. M., et al. (2025) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-024-00392-z · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Price, M. A., Weisz, J. R., McKetta, S., Hollinsaid, N. L., Lattanner, M. R., Reid, A. E., & Hatzenbuehler, M. L. (2022) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2021.07.808 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Weight Stigma and Barriers to Effective Obesity Care
Puhl, R. M. (2023) · Gastroenterology Clinics of North America · doi:10.1016/j.gtc.2023.02.002 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Nguyen, T. T., Criss, S., Michaels, E. K., Cross, R. I., Michaels, J. S., Dwivedi, P., Huang, D., Hsu, E., Mukhija, K., Nguyen, L. H., et al. (2021) · SSM - Population Health · doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100922 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Implicit bias and the gender inequity in liver transplantation
Lai, J. C., Pomfret, E. A., & Verna, E. C. (2022) · American Journal of Transplantation · doi:10.1111/ajt.16986 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Gemara, N., Mishna, F., & Katz, C. (2025) · Child & Family Social Work · doi:10.1111/cfs.13069 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Ferguson, C. J., & Smith, S. (2024) · Aggression and Violent Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.avb.2023.101905 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Jach, Ł., & Krystoń, S. (2021) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.12047 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Charlesworth, T. E. S., & Banaji, M. R.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Charlesworth, Tessa E. S.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-01-03
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 174-192
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2904897888
- Cited by
- 466
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 66 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 93 · 2021: 67 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 118.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Harvard Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Keywords
- implicit attitudes, explicit attitudes, attitude change, attitude stability, sexual orientation attitudes, racial attitudes, attitudes toward aging, attitudes toward disability
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attitude, Female, Group Processes, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Middle Aged, Social Perception, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review