Associative and Propositional Processes in Evaluative Conditioning: A Multinomial Modeling Approach

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When an object is repeatedly paired with a pleasant or unpleasant event, a person's evaluative reactions to the object become consistent with the person's natural response to the paired event. For example, repeated pairings of a consumer product with pleasant images causes a positive reaction to the consumer product. This influence is known as evaluative conditioning. It reflects a change in the evaluation of an object because of its pairings with something else that causes a positive or negative response. Evaluative conditioning is known to occur very commonly in commercial advertisements, health communications, and a variety of learning settings. Traditionally, evaluative conditioning effects have been assumed to be the result of automatic processes that are beyond a person's intentional control. However, recent research suggests that evaluative conditioning effects may be much less automatic than previously assumed. In contrast to traditional views, these findings raise the possibility that people may be able to intentionally control the influence of repeated pairings of an object with a pleasant or unpleasant event. The current project addresses this question by developing a mathematical model to test competing predictions about the psychological mechanisms underlying evaluative conditioning effects.The main goal of this project is to address a debate about the psychological mechanisms underlying evaluative conditioning effects. Evaluative conditioning refers to the change in the evaluation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) due to its pairings with a positive or negative unconditioned stimulus (US). Single-process theories posit that evaluative conditioning effects arise from a person's deliberate thoughts about how a CS is related to a co-occurring US. Dual-process theories suggest that evaluative conditioning effects can additionally arise from the automatic formation of mental associations between a CS and a co-occurring US. The two theories differ in their assumptions about the effects of CS-US relations that imply an evaluation of the CS that is opposite to that of the US. Dual-process theories suggest that CS-US pairings can influence evaluative responses to the CS irrespective of the relation between the CS and the US. In contrast, single-process theories suggest that evaluative responses to the CS should reflect its actual relation to the US. A mathematical model will be used to test competing predictions of the two theories using judgments and choices in the domain of consumer decisions and social preferences. The research will provide valuable insight into the debate between single-process and dual-process theories of evaluative conditioning and for a wide range of applications that involve evaluative conditioning effects.