Factors Predicting Explicit and Implicit Attitudes Towards Body Scanners

Many ethical concerns have been raised about the implementation of body scanners at airports. However, no study thus far has investigated which factors influence the attitudes of the general public towards body scanners. Thus, the current study aimed to find variables predicting the implicit and explicit attitudes towards body scanners. Different sociodemographic and personality variables have been taken into account. Explicit attitudes were assessed by a questionnaire and implicit attitudes were assessed by the Single Target Implicit Association Test. Women worried more about the effects of a body scan and requested more information than men. People with more knowledge about body scanners worried more about possible discrimination through body scanners. In trend, people more enthusiastic about technology had a more negative implicit attitude towards body scanners. Implicit and explicit attitudes did not correlate. The findings emphasize the importance of integrating different kinds of users in the design and development of security technologies to account for different opinions, needs and worries. Moreover, we suggest using knowledge that is gained in these kind of studies to train airport employees. Classification JEL : C12; C90; L93; O33