Implicit self-esteem measured through evaluation of verbal relationship—Investigation by Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure for Japanese University Students—

Abstract

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is frequently used in studies of implicit self-esteem of Japanese college students to measure the relative strength of “self-positive” and “not self-negative” associations. Another way to measure implicit self-esteem is to employ the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), which measures the strength of pre-established verbal relationships by evaluating responses to various stimuli. However, studies of the implicit self-esteem of Japanese college students using IRAP have yet to be conducted. In the present study, we used IRAP to measure the implicit self-esteem of Japanese college students, while simultaneously seeking to observe factors affecting implicit self-esteem. Our findings confirmed strong relationships between “self-positive” and “not self-negative”, results similar to those produced using the IAT. Furthermore, high scores were observed for “same-positive” verbal relations, leading us to conclude that not only evaluating oneself positively but also evaluating others negatively might function to improve implicit self-esteem.