Effects of an implicit internal working model on attachment in information processing assessed using Go/No-Go Association Task

Abstract

The purposes of the present study were (a) to use both a relational-anxiety Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT) and an avoidance-of-intimacy GNAT in order to assess an implicit Internal Working Model (IWM) of attachment; (b) to verify the effects of both measured implicit relational anxiety and implicit avoidance of intimacy on information processing. The implicit IWM measured by GNAT differed from the explicit IWM measured by questionnaires in terms of the effects on information processing. In particular, in subliminal priming tasks involving with others, implicit avoidance of intimacy predicted accelerated response times with negative stimulus words about attachment. Moreover, after subliminally priming stimulus words about self, implicit relational anxiety predicted delayed response times with negative stimulus words about attachment.