Speeding is a major contributor to road trauma and attitudes toward speeding are hypothesised to be a key determinant of the behaviour. Attitudinal research is limited by reliance on self-report measures and the attendant possibility of reporting biases. The Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998) aims to measure attitudes without reliance on self-report, by assessing the association between a target-concept and an evaluation, in terms of reaction time for compatible versus non-compatible pairings. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate an IAT to measure attitudes to speeding. In Study 1, 45 licensed drivers completed a questionnaire that assessed self-reported attitudes to speeding, and several variables theoretically related to attitudes, including speeding behaviour. Participants also drove a driving simulator, and completed the speed-related IAT. Observed IAT results suggested that attitudes toward speeding are negative, and were generally consistent with results derived from the self-report and speeding on the driving simulator. In Study 2, a further 45 licensed drivers underwent the Study 1 procedures, before being exposed to an intervention that was designed to increase negative attitudes to speeding (treatment group) or not (control group). Participants returned after 1-2 weeks for a second session, during which the Study 1 procedures were repeated. The intervention appeared to have a significant effect only on perceived crash risk for speeding. Thus, we could not adequately test the responsivity of the speed-related IAT to changed attitudes to speeding. In the control group, the IAT effect at Session 1 demonstrated a significant correlation with IAT effect at Session 2. Thus, the speed-related IAT appeared to be a valid and stable measure of attitudes to speeding, which might be used to measure attitudes in road safety research, without reliance on self-report. (Author/publisher)
Abstract