Implicit misattribution as a mechanism underlying evaluative conditioning.

Full Abstract

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the formation or change of an attitude toward an object, following that object's pairing with positively or negatively valenced stimuli. The authors provide evidence that EC can occur through an implicit misattribution mechanism in which an evaluative response evoked by a valenced stimulus is incorrectly and implicitly attributed to another stimulus, forming or changing an attitude toward this other stimulus. In 5 studies, the authors measured or manipulated variables related to the potential for the misattribution of an evaluation, or source confusability. Greater EC was observed when participants' eye gaze shifted frequently between a valenced and a neutral stimulus (Studies 1 & 2), when the 2 stimuli appeared in close spatial proximity (Study 3), and when the neutral stimulus was made more perceptually salient than was the valenced stimulus, due to the larger size of the neutral stimulus (Study 4). In other words, conditions conducive to source confusability increased EC. Study 5 provided evidence for multiple mechanisms of EC by comparing the effects of mildly evocative valenced stimuli (those evoking responses that might more easily be misattributed to another object) with more strongly evocative stimuli. Copyright (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Jones, Christopher R (CR); Fazio, Russell H (RH); Olson, Michael A (MA);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210-1287, USA.

Grants: MH38832 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-May; vol 96 (issue 5) : pp 933-48

Dates: Created 2009/04/21; Completed 2009/06/10; Revised 2009/06/26;

PMID: 19379028, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/29/2009, IMS Date: 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a large map of 100+ related articles.