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Development of an Implicit Overall Well-Being Measure Using the Implicit Association Test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Darío Díaz ,
Javier Horcajo  and
Amalio Blanco
Darío Díaz*
Affiliation:
Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (Spain)
Javier Horcajo
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Amalio Blanco
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Darío Díaz. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Jurídicas y Humanidades. Universidad a Distancia de Madrid. Camino de La Fonda N° 20. 28400 Collado-Villalba. Madrid (Spain). E-mail: dario.diaz@uam.es
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Abstract

Usually, well-being has been measured by means of questionnaires or scales. Although most of these methods have a high level of reliability and validity, they present some limitations. In order to try to improve well-being assessment, in the present work, the authors propose a new complementary instrument: The Implicit Overall Well-Being Measure (IOWBM). The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was adapted to measure well-being by assessing associations of the self with well-being-related words. In the first study, the IOWBM showed good internal consistency and adequate temporal reliability. In the second study, it presented weak correlations with explicit well-being measures. The third study examined the validity of the measure, analyzing the effect of traumatic memories on implicit well-being. The results showed that people who remember a traumatic event presented low levels of implicit well-being compared with people in the control condition.

El procedimiento más empleado para la evaluación del bienestar consiste en la utilización de cuestionarios de auto-informe. A pesar de que la mayor parte de estos instrumentos poseen un alto grado de fiabilidad y validez, presentan también algunas limitaciones. Por ello, para intentar complementarlos, en esta investigación se propone, mediante la adaptación del Implicit Association Test (IAT), un nuevo instrumento: la Medida Implícita de Bienestar General (MIBG), que proporciona una evaluación indirecta del bienestar mediante la medición de las asociaciones del Yo (vs. No-Yo) con las categorías Bienestar (vs. Malestar). En el primer estudio, la MIBG mostró una buena consistencia interna y una aceptable fiabilidad temporal. En el segundo estudio presentó débiles correlaciones con las medidas explícitas de bienestar. Para profundizar en la validez de esta medida se desarrolló un tercer estudio experimental que analizó la eficacia de la MIBG para recoger el efecto que tiene recordar un acontecimiento traumático sobre las medidas implícitas del bienestar, comprobando que, frente al grupo control, los participantes que recordaron un acontecimiento traumático mostraron implícitamente menores niveles de bienestar.

Keywords

well-beingimplicit measurementinstrumental studyexperimentbienestarmedición implícitaestudio instrumentalexperimento
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , November 2009 , pp. 604 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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