This book tackles a subject that has captured the imagination of many researchers in the field: attitudes. Although the field has always recognized that people’s attitudes could be assessed in different ways, from direct self-reports to disguised observations of behavior, the past decade has shown several new approaches to attitude measurement.
Despite the fact that there is no monolithic point of view with respect to implicit attitudes or measures, this book proves informative in capturing the exciting developments that have taken place over the past decade in the study of attitudes, and point the way for future exploration. Although researchers in the field have long used physiological measures, more sophisticated approaches have now been developed that rely on brain imaging techniques to examine evaluative processes. This book addresses all of these new techniques, as well as the new wave of implicit measures and the contribution they have made to understanding attitudes and attitude change. This volume will be an essential resource for students and researchers in social psychology with an interest in the core topic of attitudes.