Towards the Integration of Socio-Cultural and Individual Difference Approaches to Implicit Attitudes

Why does discrimination endure despite widespread cultural endorsement of equality? At least partially, this persistence can be attributed to implicit attitudes that shape the behavior of individuals even while they are not aware of them. Recently, psychologists have been divided as to whether individual differences (e.g., in racial identity, mood, and cognition) or socio-cultural environmental influences are the primary factors driving implicit attitudes. Although both types of factors likely play a role in setting individual implicit attitude levels, the spatial scales and group sizes at which environmental and individual factors are most important and interact significantly are not yet known. 

This workshop will bring together senior and early career social psychologists from both perspectives alongside, urban scientists, economists, and sociologists to learn from each other and explore how integrative methods that cross disciplinary boundaries might shed light on the cultural, geographic, and psychological mechanisms underlying implicit attitudes. Our goal is to generate a more rigorous discussion of the methods required to understand implicit attitudes across scales, from individuals to societies.