The IAT (Greenwald et al., 1998) is a computerized task that measures participants’ reaction times when pairing two target concepts (e.g., “alcohol” and “water”) with two attribute concepts (e.g., “cope” and “ignore”). Reaction time difference is presumed to be a proxy for the relative strength of the associations between mental constructs. The IATs used in the current study were designed to map onto theoretically relevant domains of drinking motivation that index positive reinforcement motives (Enhancement) and negative reinforcement motives (Coping). Enhancement and Coping motives are robust predictors of drinking behavior when assessed with explicit (self-report) measures (Kuntsche et al., 2005). Target stimuli were images of beer or water that were paired with attribute concepts. The Cope IAT attributes were words representing “cope” or “ignore.” “Cope” words were soothe, calm, help, cope; and “Ignore” words were ignore, disregard, neglect, and dismiss. The Enhance IAT attributes were words representing “excite” and “diminish”. The former were excite cheer, high, fun, amplify; and the latter were diminish, weaker, lower, lessen, decrease, and reduce.
