Evaluative Conditioning of Affective Valence

Abstract

Evaluative conditioning involves pairing neutral stimuli with positive or negative stimuli to produce changes in attitudes toward those neutral stimuli. Three studies used evaluative conditioning to manipulate the valence of affective states in response to neutral videos by pairing them with valenced music. Study 1 demonstrated robust evaluative conditioning of affective valence across participants differing on the Affect Intensity Measure. Study 2 demonstrated a similar magnitude of effect when the focus of the induction task was on semantic rather than affective properties of the stimuli. Study 3 partially dissociated effects due to liking of the unconditioned stimulus from those due to the affective valence. Conditioning effects on affective valence were linked to the valence induced by the unconditioned stimulus rather than liking. Overall, results show robust evaluative conditioning of affective valence regardless of participants' characteristic intensity of affective reactions or their particular liking for the unconditioned stimulus.