APA Dictionary of Psychology

an implicit attitude measure based on performance of a joint categorization task in which people judge if the target words are members of a specified category (e.g., insects) as well as if a second set of intermixed words, selected to be highly evaluative in nature, represent a designated evaluative category (e.g., good). Respondents are required to hit (go) a response key if a stimulus word represents the target category of interest or the designated evaluative category or to do nothing (no-go) if the stimulus does not represent either category. In one phase of the test, words from the category of interest are jointly judged with a positive evaluative designation. In a second phase, the category of interest is jointly judged with a negative evaluative designation. Attitudes are inferred from the relative speed in performing the task when the target category being judged is paired with the good versus bad evaluative category. The GNAT is conceptually similar to the Implicit Association Test. [developed by U.S. psychologists Brian A. Nosek and Mahzarin R. Banaji (1956–  )]