The Sorting Paired Features Task A Measure of Association Strengths Yoav Bar-Anan, 1 Brian A. Nosek, 1 and Michelangelo Vianello 2 1 University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 2 University of Padua, Italy Abstract. The sorting paired features (SPF) task measures four associations in a single response block. Using four response options (e.g., good- Republicans, bad-Republicans, good-Democrats, and bad-Democrats), each trial requires participants to categorize two stimuli at once to a category pair (e.g., wonderful-Clinton to good-Democrats). Unlike other association measures, the SPF requires simultaneous categorization of both components of the association in the same trial. Providing measurement flexibility, it is sensitive to both focal, attended concepts and nonfocal, unattended stimulus features (e.g., gender of individuals in a politics SPF). Three studies measure race, gender, and political evaluations, differentiate automatic evaluations between known groups, provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity with other attitude measures, and illustrate the SPF’s unique measurement qualities. Keywords: implicit measures, automatic association, automatic attitudes, attitude measures, priming Associations between concepts are related to thought and behavior. A recurrent good feeling after tasting something sweet, for example, may cause a strong association between the concepts ‘‘sweet’’ and ‘‘good.’’ This association, in turn, may bolster the thought that sweet taste is good (attitude) and the tendency to seek sweet tastes (behavior). Because of their relations to thought and behavior, associations play a prominent role in psychological theory and application (Wyer, 2007). Measures of association strengths use distinct procedures and may assess a variety of associative processes. The implicit association test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) and evaluative priming (EP; Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995) are both used as measures of associations between targets and valence, but they may reflect distinct aspects of association because of their idiosyncratic proce- dural features (Olson & Fazio, 2003). Because psychological constructs are unobservable and only inferred through mea- surement, the measures themselves shape the theoretical understanding of constructs. This interdependence of theory and measurement encourages method diversity to parse the variation in measurement that is construct-valid versus method-specific (Campbell & Fiske, 1959; Nosek & Smyth, 2007). Further, if multiple methods represent different aspects of a heterogeneous construct, then research efforts can employ the method best suited for the theoretical question. This article presents the sorting paired features (SPF) task, a measure of associations that has unique properties for research application, and may advance theoretical under- standing of associations and its derivative social constructs – attitudes, stereotypes, and self-concepts (Greenwald et al., 2002). This research examines the validity of the SPF, pre- sents its unique qualities as a measure of associations, and demonstrates its potential in revealing findings that cannot be detected easily by other measures. The SPF Measures of association rely on the fact that the processing of a stimulus increases the accessibility of associated con- cepts (Higgins, 1996). Association measures that use response latency or error rates as dependent variables create task demands for which the presence of an association will either facilitate or impede performance. For instance, in EP, a prime immediately precedes the presentation of a target that is categorized as ‘‘good’’ or ‘‘bad.’’ If the prime acti- vates ‘‘good’’ then categorizing good targets as good will be facilitated (i.e., faster or more accurate), and categorizing bad targets as bad will be impeded (i.e., slower or more inac- curate). The SPF comprises a single task with four response alternatives that represent four associations. Comparison of the latency of performance between these responses provides an index of their comparative association strengths. In the SPF, four category pairs are presented in the top- left, top-right, bottom-left, and bottom-right corners of the screen. For example, in a task measuring associations between pets (dogs and cats) and valence (good and bad), the category pairs would be dogs-good, dogs-bad, cats- good, and cats-bad. Each category pair corresponds with a response key (e.g., ‘‘q’’, ‘‘p’’, ‘‘c’’, and ‘‘m’’) on a standard keyboard. A block of SPF trials involves categorizing pairs of pet-valence stimulus items into one of the four category pairs using the response keys. Each trial presents a stimuli pair at the center of the screen, for example, one valence item and one pet item. Figure 1 illustrates the computer screen for a single trial of a pet-valence task (see http:// www.briannosek.com/spf/ for a demonstration). Participants categorize the items conjointly into one of the four category pairs as quickly as possible. A red ‘‘X’’ appears below the stimuli after mistakes. Participants must correct the error to finish the trial. Faster categorization for Ó 2009 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers Experimental Psychology 2009; Vol. 56(5):329–343 DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169.56.5.329