Applying the IAT to assess big five personality traits: A brief review of measurement and validity issues

This chapter is aimed at reviewing the studies that applied the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess the Big Five personality traits, focusing on issues related to measurement and validity. After a brief introduction on the implicit self-concept of personality, the following five issues were critically reviewed: (1) the experimental procedure of both classical and questionnaire-based Big Five IATs, (2) the factorial structure and reliability of the implicit traits and the degree of dissociation between implicit and explicit measures, (3) the state and trait components of implicit scores, (4) the predictive validity of the Big-Five IATs with respect to relevant behavioural criteria, and (5) the robustness to faking of the Big Five IATs. Future research directions for the implicit measures of the Big Five were discussed.