The study you just completed was an implicit measure of spending preferences. Specifically, it was an Implicit Association Test (IAT) that compared the strength of automatic mental associations. In this version of the IAT, we investigated associations between the self-concept and the concepts of experiential purchasing and material purchasing.

The idea behind the IAT is that concepts with very closely related (vs. unrelated) mental representations are more easily and quickly responded to as a single unit. For example, if "self" and "life experiences" are strongly associated in one's mind, it should be relatively easy to respond quickly to this pairing by pressing the "E" or "I" key. If "self" and "life experiences" are NOT strongly associated, it should be more difficult to respond quickly to this pairing. By comparing reaction times on this test, the IAT gives a relative measure of how strongly associated the two categories (Self, Other) are to mental representations of "Life experiences" and "Material items". Each participant receives a single score, and your score appears below.

Your score on the IAT was 0.

Positive scores indicate that "life experiences" associations with the self-concept are stronger (i.e., faster) than "material items" associations, and a negative score indicates the opposite.

Your score appears in the graph below in blue. The score of the average male visitor to this site is shown in brown and the average female visitor's score is shown in orange.





People often have questions about interpreting their scores on an IAT test. For answers to some of the most Frequently Asked Questions, please see this FAQ page hosted by Project Implicit. For more general information on the test, see this wikipedia article.



Would you like to learn more about yourself? Do you know your scores on the five fundamental dimensions of personality? You will when you take the Big Five personality test. Do you want to know you feel about your past, present, and future? Take the Time Attitudes Survey and learn about your relation with time. You can learn about the values that shape your life choices by taking the Importance of Happiness Survey and the Social Values Scale.

Do you have ideas on improving this study? Or did you encounter any difficulties in answering the questions? Click here to send a message to the creators of this study.



Learn more about your happiness and spending habits!


Featured Studies
Importance of Happiness Survey:
How much will you sacrifice for more happiness?
36 questions
The Big Five personality test:
How do you score on the five fundamental dimensions of personality?
29 questions
A 2-week Gratitude Intervention:
Can recalling grateful events increase your happiness? Note: only people who register with FB can take this study
About 5 minutes nightly for two weeks
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<!--<p>We're also interested in how people's implicit happiness scores relate to their explicit, self-reported levels of well-being. The graph below shows your scores on the Satisfaction With Life Scale that you filled out prior to the IAT. Scores range from 1 to 7, with higher scores indicating higher self-reported well-being. Again, your scores appear in dark green, the score for the average liberal is shown in blue, and the score for the average conservative is shown in red.




Below you will see a map of how people's explicit and implicit happiness scores vary throughout the United States. The more red a region is, the higher the average score for people form that state. The more blue a region is, the lower the average score for that state.