Implicit and explicit identity, attitudes and acculturation among U.S.-born and first-generation Latinos and East Asians

The purpose of this study was to compare the influence of place of birth upon implicit and explicit identity and ethnic attitudes of 119 U.S.-born and first-generation East Asians and Latinos. The relationships between acculturation, implicit and explicit identity, and attitudes as well as East Asians' and Latinos' explicit perceptions of how their ethnic group are regarded by others were also assessed. This study also analyzed whether first-generation groups, in comparison to U.S.-born groups, had positive implicit attitudes toward their ethnic groups which served as a protective factor against implicit out-group bias towards White Americans. Participants completed two timed Implicit Association Tasks: the Stereotype/Attitude IAT, which required participants to match positive and negative words with ethnic surnames as a measure of their ethnic attitudes, and the Identity IAT, which required participants to match American or ethnic cultural icons to personal pronouns as a measure of identity. Reaction times were measured to assess which pairing was more quickly associated. For identity, results indicated that first-generation and U.S.-born groups implicitly identified with their ethnic identity, but explicitly, first-generation groups significantly identified as more American than did U.S.-born groups. For implicit ethnic attitudes, first-generation groups had significantly more implicit positive attitudes toward their ethnic group than did U.S.-born groups. Acculturation showed no relationship to implicit identity or attitudes. Place of birth appeared to significantly affect one's implicit attitudes and explicit American identity. Practical implications and direction for future research are discussed.