The IAT rests on the premise that it should be easier to make the same behavioral
response (a key press) to concepts that are strongly associated to one another
compared with concepts that are only weakly, or not associated (Greenwald et al.,
1998). The simple idea of the IAT is that concepts that are associated by some
feature should be easier to put together than concepts that are not associated and
has therefore recently been shown to be a useful tool for assessing constructs such
as implicit stereotypes or person schemas (e.g., Greenwald, Pickrell, & Farnham,
2002; Rudman & Ashmore, 2007). Following initial research in the field of sport that
has successfully used the IAT to measure the implicit component of an exerciser’s
self-schema (Banting et al., 2009), we aimed to further the application of the IAT
by testing whether certain nonverbal behaviors implicitly trigger particular athlete
schemas. If nonverbal behavior signaling dominance is automatically associated
with a positive athlete schema and nonverbal behavior signaling submissiveness
with a negative athlete schema as we argue above, then this should be measurable
with the IAT. Specifically, it should be easier to categorize pictures displaying
dominant nonverbal behavior and attributes associated with a “good soccer player”
with one key press and pictures displaying submissive nonverbal behavior and
attributes associated with a “bad soccer player” with another key. On the other
hand, it should be harder to categorize dominant nonverbal behavior and “bad
soccer player” with one key and submissive nonverbal behavior and “good soccer
player” with another key.