Implicit Social Cognition

This chapter provides an overview of theories, methods, key findings, and controversies in research on implicit social cognition. We start by introducing the conceptual origins of implicit social cognition, definitions of the term “implicit,” and the most important measurement instruments. We further review research on dissociations between implicit and explicit measures, the prediction of behavior, and factors that cause systematic variation on implicit measures (formation and change of mental representations, context effects). In the last part of the chapter, we discuss common questions and ongoing controversies in implicit social cognition and provide an outlook on future research. Together, this chapter provides an overview of the current status of research on implicit social cognition.