Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure to explore students' implicit age discrimination of toxic versus innocuous phrases

The research literature remains unclear as to whether discrimination of bullying improves with age, thus the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) was used to investigate if college students compared to post-primary students showed increased discrimination of phrases with bullying potential. Participants (N= 60; n= 30 post-primary and n= 30 university students) completed the IRAP in which trial-blocks alternately affirmed or denied innocuous v. toxic phrases as harmless or abusive. Shorter response latencies for particular trial-blocks meant participants responded more rapidly, thus indicating preference. Pre- and post-IRAPs were also conducted to determine if an intervention (government educational videos) increased participants' implicit preference for innocuous phrases as harmless, or decreased preference for toxic phrases. IRAP data showed a statistically significant implicit preference for innocuous phrases as harmless, for both post-primary and university students, with no statistically significant difference between these groups. There was no difference in IRAP results pre and post a brief educational intervention, thus the research did not support the intervention. Analysis of participants' explicit data (self-report questionnaires) indicated no age differences for prosocial behaviour or attitudes towards victims. Thus, age was not shown to improve discrimination of bullying in the current research.