Evaluative learning with single versus multiple unconditioned stimuli: The role of contingency awareness.
Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior ProcessesPublished 1 January 2009
Christoph Stahl, Christian Unkelbach
Citations83
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
This study compares how both variants of CS-US pairing affect awareness for CS- US pairings and ultimately EC effects, and the role of contingency awareness in EC.
Abstract
Evaluative conditioning (EC) is obtained when an initially neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes evaluated positively (negatively) after being paired with an evaluatively positive (negative) unconditioned stimulus (US). Most EC studies have paired a given CS with a single US, but EC has also been obtained when a CS was paired with multiple USs of the same valence. This study compares how both variants of CS-US pairing affect awareness for CS-US pairings and ultimately EC effects. EC was assessed directly and indirectly, using evaluative ratings and the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task. Memory for US identity and US valence was assessed to investigate effects of awareness. The multiple-US condition showed attenuated EC effects compared with the single-US condition. The direct measure showed EC effects when awareness of US valence or US identity was present. The indirect measure showed EC effects only when awareness of US identity was present. Results are discussed with regard to the role of contingency awareness in EC.
Keywords
PsychologySocial SciencesNeuroscience
Psychological BulletinAssociative and propositional processes in evaluation: An integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change.
2,530 Citations2006Bertram Gawronski, Galen V. Bodenhausen
An integrative review of the available evidence on implicit and explicit attitude change that is guided by a distinction between associative and propositional processes is provided.
Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyOn the automatic activation of attitudes.
1,960 Citations1986Russell H. Fázio, David M. Sanbonmatsu +2 more
The results indicated that attitudes can be automatically activated and that the strength of the object-evaluation association determines the likelihood of such automatic activation.
Behavioral and Brain SciencesCharacteristics of dissociable human learning systems
1,178 Citations1994David R. Shanks, Mark John
The distinction between instance and rule learning is a sound and meaningful way of taxonomizing human learning and various computational models of these two forms of learning are discussed.
Psychological BulletinAssociation learning of likes and dislikes: A review of 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning.
1,155 Citations2001Jan De Houwer, Sarah Thomas +1 more
The authors summarize the available literature, draw conclusions where possible, and provide suggestions for future research on evaluative conditioning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior ProcessesThe role of awareness in Pavlovian conditioning: Empirical evidence and theoretical implications.
676 Citations2002Peter F. Lovibond, David R. Shanks
The bulk of the evidence is consistent with the position that awareness is necessary but not sufficient for conditioned performance, although studies suggestive of conditioning without awareness are identified as worthy of further investigation.
Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie)The Extrinsic Affective Simon Task
561 Citations2003Jan De Houwer
Journal of Consumer ResearchClassical Conditioning of Consumer Attitudes: Four Experiments in an Advertising Context
373 Citations1987Elnora W. Stuart, Terence A. Shimp +1 more
The Spanish Journal of PsychologyA Conceptual and Theoretical Analysis of Evaluative Conditioning
354 Citations2007Jan De Houwer
Future research should adopt a meta-conditional approach that focuses not only on whether a certain condition is crucial for obtaining evaluative conditioning but should also examine when a certain conditions are crucial, because there are so many conflicting results about the conditions under which evaluatives conditioning can be found.
Behaviour Research and TherapyClassical conditioning of human ‘evaluative’ responses
303 Citations1975A.B. Levey, Irene Martin
It is discussed that evaluation of the UCS by the subject, shown to be a sufficient condition for learning, may also be the only necessary condition, which would imply a model of conditioning based on affective evaluation rather than on response production.
PsychometrikaHierarchical Multinomial Processing Tree Models: A Latent-Trait Approach
292 Citations2009Karl Christoph Klauer
Cognition & EmotionContingency awareness in evaluative conditioning: A case for unaware affective-evaluative learning
262 Citations1990Frank Baeyens, Paul Eelen +1 more
Behaviour Research and TherapyHuman evaluative conditioning: Acquisition trials, presentation schedule, evaluative style and contingency awareness
256 Citations1992Frank Baeyens, Paul Eelen +2 more
Trends in Cognitive SciencesClassical conditioning, awareness, and brain systems
247 Citations2002Robert E. Clark, Joseph R. Manns +1 more
New findings in relation to the brain systems supporting eyeblink conditioning are discussed and it is suggested why awareness is important for trace conditioning but not for delay conditioning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and CognitionAware and (Dis)Liking: Item-Based Analyses Reveal That Valence Acquisition via Evaluative Conditioning Emerges Only When There Is Contingency Awareness.
211 Citations2007Gordy Pleyers, Olivier Corneille +2 more
It is found that EC emerged on contingency aware CSs only, and this pattern supports the idea that awareness of the CS-US associations may be required for valence acquisition via EC.
Behaviour Research and TherapyExpectancy-learning and evaluative learning in human classical conditioning: affective priming as an indirect and unobtrusive measure of conditioned stimulus valence
180 Citations2002Dirk Hermans, Debora Vansteenwegen +3 more
In the present study evaluative learning was not only indexed by directevaluative ratings, but affective priming was introduced as an indirect and unobtrusive, reaction time based measure of stimulus valence.
Behavior Research MethodsHMMTree: A computer program for latent-class hierarchical multinomial processing tree models
106 Citations2007Christoph Stahl, Karl Christoph Klauer
The computer program HMMTree is introduced as a means of implementing latent-class hierarchical multinomial processing tree models and computes parameter estimates, confidence intervals, and goodness-of-fit statistics for such models, as well the Fisher information, expected category means and variances, and posterior probabilities for class membership.
Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior ProcessesEvaluative conditioning and the awareness issue: Assessing contingency awareness with the Four-Picture Recognition Test.
81 Citations2006Eva Walther, Benjamin Nagengast
Results indicate an inverse relationship between the conditioned affective reaction and contingency awareness: only participants classified as unaware in the recognition test showed significant effects of evaluative learning.
Behaviour Research and TherapyEvaluative conditioning is a qualitatively distinct form of classical conditioning: a reply to Davey (1994)
71 Citations1995Frank Baeyens, Jan De Houwer
This manuscript tries to show that Davey's conclusion that there is no sufficient evidence to support the theoretical position that evaluative conditioning is a qualitatively different form of classical conditioning is biased.
Cognition & EmotionReactance in affective‐evaluative learning: Outside of conscious control?
67 Citations2005Marianne Hammerl, Eamon P. Fulcher
Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior ProcessesReevaluating evaluative conditioning: A nonassociative explanation of conditioning effects in the visual evaluative conditioning paradigm.
66 Citations1999Andy P. Field, Graham C. L. Davey
The implications are that EC effects found in many studies are not due to associative learning and that the special characteristics of EC (conditioning without awareness and resistance to extinction) are probably nonassociative artifacts of the EC paradigm.
Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie)Assessing Automatic Activation of Valence
47 Citations2007Christoph Stahl, Juliane Degner
A first application of latent-class hierarchical multinomial models reveals a significant amount of parameter heterogeneity resulting from interindividual differences in accuracy motivation.