Patterns of Implicit and Explicit Attitudes: IV. Change and Stability From 2007 to 2020
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Using more than 7.1 million implicit and explicit attitude tests drawn from U.S. participants to the Project Implicit website, we examined long-term trends across 14 years (2007–2020). Despite tumultuous sociopolitical events, trends from 2017 to 2020 persisted largely as forecasted from past data (2007–2016). Since 2007, all explicit attitudes decreased in bias between 22% (age attitudes) and 98% (race attitudes). Implicit sexuality, race, and skin-tone attitudes also continued to decrease in bias, by 65%, 26%, and 25%, respectively. Implicit age, disability, and body-weight attitudes, however, continued to show little to no long-term change. Patterns of change and stability were generally consistent across demographic groups (e.g., men and women), indicating widespread, macrolevel change. Ultimately, the data magnify evidence that (some) implicit attitudes reveal persistent, long-term change toward neutrality. The data also newly reveal the potential for short-term influence from sociopolitical events that temporarily disrupt progress toward neutrality, although attitudes eventually return to long-term homeostasis in trends.
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Itskovich, E. (2026) · American Journal of Criminal Justice · doi:10.1007/s12103-025-09876-x
“This shift aligns with broader trends in the United States, where racially biased attitudes have declined over time (Charlesworth & Banaji, 2022), which might have contributed to reductions in disparities across various aspects of the criminal justice system (Ferguson & Smith, 2024; Mitchell et…”
Influential
- 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
- 2022-07-27
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1347-1371
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W4288051305
- Cited by
- 138
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 39.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- implicit attitudes, explicit attitudes, attitude change, attitude stability, Project Implicit, attitudes toward aging, racial attitudes, sexual attitudes, attitudes toward disability, socio-political events, long-term trends, gender differences
- MeSH terms
- Attitude, Female, Humans, Male, Sexual Behavior
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