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

当一个物体反复与一个愉快或不愉快的事件配对时，一个人对这个物体的评价反应与他对配对事件的自然反应是一致的。例如，将一种消费品与令人愉快的图像反复配对会引起对该消费品的积极反应。这种影响被称为评价条件反射。它反映了对一个对象的评价的变化，因为它与其他事物的配对导致了积极或消极的反应。评价性条件反射通常出现在商业广告、健康传播和各种学习环境中。传统上，评价条件作用被认为是自动过程的结果，超出了一个人的有意控制。然而，最近的研究表明，评价性条件反射效应可能远没有以前认为的那么自动。与传统观点相反，这些发现提出了一种可能性，即人们可能能够有意地控制一个物体与愉快或不愉快事件的重复配对的影响。目前的项目通过开发一个数学模型来测试关于评估条件作用背后的心理机制的相互竞争的预测来解决这个问题。该项目的主要目的是解决关于评价条件反射效应的心理机制的争论。评价性条件反射是指一个条件刺激（CS）与一个积极的或消极的非条件刺激（US）配对后对其评价的变化。单过程理论认为，评价条件反射效应产生于一个人对CS与共同发生的US之间的关系的深思熟虑。双过程理论认为，评价性条件反射效应还可能产生于一个CS和一个共同发生的US之间自动形成的心理联系。这两种理论对CS-US关系影响的假设不同，这意味着对CS的评估与对美国的评估相反。双过程理论表明，无论CS与美国之间的关系如何，CS-US配对都可以影响对CS的评价反应。相比之下，单过程理论认为，对CS的评价性反应应反映其与美国的实际关系。一个数学模型将被用来测试两种理论在消费者决策和社会偏好领域的判断和选择的竞争性预测。该研究将为评价条件作用的单过程和双过程理论之间的争论以及涉及评价条件作用的广泛应用提供有价值的见解。

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.