Explicit and Implicit Measures of Intimate Relationships and Their Association
亲密关系的外显测量与内隐测量及相互关系

The current study was designed to fill in this gap.In this study,the differences and associations between explicit and implicit closeness of the most intimate family member(blood relationship),lover(romantic relationship) and the most intimate friend(friendship) were investigated.Explicit closeness was measured by direct ordering and the Inclusion of Other in the Self(IOS) scale,while implicit closeness was measured by Implicit Association Test(IAT).It was within-subjects designed,with all the participants finishing the implicit and explicit measures of all three relationships.In addition to the two explicit measures,each participant also finished seven IATs,three of which compared the self to the three target figures,the other three compared the three target figures to a general other,and the last one compared self to a general other. The results indicated that a) There were significant differences between explicit closeness across the three targets.Specifically,family members were the closest,followed by romantic partner,and friend came the last.However,no differences existed in their implicit closeness;b) No significant correlation was found between explicit and implicit closeness;c) Gender differences were not significant in explicit measures.For implicit measures,males felt closer to lovers than females. A rough Differential Pattern can be drawn from this study.The differences found between implicit and explicit(measures) might arise from the different nature of the cognitive underpinnings of the two types of closeness.These findings suggest potential usefulness of IAT as indirect measure of closeness.Future research should select more points from the continuum of closeness,such as general family member,classmates,and acquaintances in order to examine more thoroughly the Differential Pattern.