pollinate SCIO

What is it: The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures unconscious stereotyping (e.g. racial) by looking at people’s automatic associations. It works by measuring how quickly participants respond to combinations of judgement words (e.g. positive and negative) with priming words (e.g. “black” vs “white”). The faster the response, the more closely that person unconsciously associates those words.

In this study, mental health patients classified words related to “life” (e.g. breathing) and “death” (e.g. dead) with “me” (e.g. mine) and “not me” (e.g. them). Faster responses to “death”/”me” stimuli than “life”/”me” stimuli suggest a stronger association between death and self and potentially a susceptibility to committing suicide.

Why is it cool: People who are contemplating suicide tend to conceal or deny their thoughts. So, it can be very hard for family or friends to see the warning signs and save them. This study found that participants with strong associations between death/suicide and self were significantly more likely to make a suicide attempt in the next six months than were those who had stronger associations between life and self.

This can be a tool for proactively saving people’s lives.

Where to find it: here!

Submitted by: Melissa Yee