Associative-propositional Evaluation Model Research Articles

The influence of disclosing product lifecycle carbon footprint information on consumer purchase intentions based on the APE model perspective: An ERP and questionnaire study

BackgroundCarbon emissions are increasingly becoming the primary cause of climate change, and carbon information disclosure can affect consumer purchase intentions. However, existing studies only focus on the disclosure of carbon information for a single lifecycle stage, gnoring consumers' overall perception process. MethodsThis study uses scenario experiments and event-related potential experiments in combination, based on the associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model, to explore the differences in the impact of disclosing product information with high carbon emissions in different lifecycle stages (production stage, use stage, recycling stage) on consumers' purchase intentions. ResultsThe questionnaire results found that consumers' willingness to purchase products with high carbon emissions in the use stage was the lowest; The behavioral results found that the purchase rate of products with high carbon emissions in the recycling stage was the lowest; The brain electricity results found that products with high carbon emissions in the use stage induced the largest P2 component; Products with high carbon emissions in the recycling stage induced the largest N2 component. ConclusionThe attitudes of evaluation with proposition dominance among consumers tend to attribute carbon emissions in the use stage to their own behavioral choices. The attitudes of evaluation with association dominance among consumers reflect the cognitive conflicts existing in consumers' understanding of carbon emission information during recycling. This study expands the perspective of researching the disclosure effects of product carbon footprints and provides references for corporate marketing strategies and policy formulation.

Research on the cognitive neural mechanism of privacy empowerment illusion cues regarding comprehensibility and interpretability for privacy disclosures

In the era of artificial intelligence, privacy empowerment illusion has become a crucial means for digital enterprises and platforms to “manipulate” users and create an illusion of control. This topic has also become an urgent and pressing concern for current research. However, the existing studies are limited in terms of their perspectives and methodologies, making it challenging to fully explain why users express concerns about privacy empowerment illusion but repeatedly disclose their personal information. This study combines the associative-propositional evaluation model (APE) and cognitive load theory, using event-related potential (ERP) technology to investigate the underlying mechanisms of how the comprehensibility and interpretability of privacy empowerment illusion cues affect users’ immediate attitudes and privacy disclosure behaviours; these mechanisms are mediated by psychological processing and cognitive load differences. Behavioural research results indicate that in the context of privacy empowerment illusion cues with low comprehensibility, users are more inclined to disclose their private information when faced with high interpretability than they are when faced with low interpretability. EEG results show that in the context of privacy empowerment illusion cues with low comprehensibility, high interpretability induces greater P2 amplitudes than does low interpretability; low interpretability induces greater N2 amplitudes than does high interpretability. This study extends the scopes of the APE model and cognitive load theory in the field of privacy research, providing new insights into privacy attitudes. Doing so offers a valuable framework through which digital enterprises can gain a deeper understanding of users’ genuine privacy attitudes and immediate reactions under privacy empowerment illusion situations. This understanding can help increase user privacy protection and improve their overall online experience, making it highly relevant and beneficial.

How New Zealand adults who smoked understand novel tobacco ‘endgame’ policies. Qualitative analysis using the associative propositional evaluation model to determine comprehension.

Tobacco smoking is a leading cause of early death. In 2022, New Zealand legislated to introduce three previously untried tobacco ‘endgame’ policies aimed at reducing demand for cigarettes and restricting supply. This study aimed to determine how a key stakeholder group, NZ adults with no intent or low belief that they could stop smoking by 2025, understood proposals to restrict nicotine in combustible tobacco and the number of tobacco retailers to a very low level, annually raise the age of purchase, set minimum prices, and ban filters.The Affective Propositional Evaluation model was used to analyze participants' comprehension of the policies. That model and discourse analysis worked well for distinguishing which policies were familiar to participants and for determining participants' understanding. Responses and discourse on the novel policies (denicotinization, sinking lid on age of purchase, filter ban), the semi-familiar policy (reducing the number of retailers), and most familiar minimum pricing policy differed qualitatively. Compared to familiar policies evaluative judgements of the novel policies were often inconclusive. If approval of a novel policy was expressed, propositional evaluations suggested that approval was for the intent (to prevent young people from smoking) rather than the means to achieve it. The results complement the ‘endgame’ policy literature, adding the strength of feelings towards, and nuances of doubt about, the potential effects and unintended consequences and provides useful information for formulating metrics for future evaluation of ‘endgame’ policies.

Bridging the gap between work‐ and nonwork‐related knowledge contributions on enterprise social media: The role of the employee–employer relationship

AbstractKnowledge is an invaluable resource and a key to organisational success. To leverage this resource adequately, organisations must encourage their employees to share what they know with their peers. Enterprise social media (ESM) has emerged as an ideal venue for achieving this goal, and numerous studies have examined the drivers of work‐related knowledge contributions on these platforms. The present study contributes to this body of research by examining a prevalent yet underexplored form of knowledge sharing that often occurs on ESM: nonwork‐related knowledge contributions. We argue that contrary to a commonly held belief, this presumably hedonic employee behaviour can benefit organisations through its spillover effect on the work domain. In other words, we argue that nonwork‐related knowledge contributions on ESM can foster work‐related ones. Building on social exchange theory and on the associative–propositional evaluation model in social psychology, we also show that the employee–employer (EE) relationship—conceptualised in terms of perceived organisational support and perceived employee psychological safety—moderates the relationship between the two forms of knowledge contributions. The analysis of field data collected from 269 employees of a French e‐commerce company confirmed that nonwork‐related knowledge contributions are positively associated with work‐related ones and that this positive association is moderated by the EE relationship. We discuss the theoretical contributions of our results and explain key managerial implications for organisations hoping to reap the benefits of ESM in a sustainable way.

Revisiting Black Americans' self-protective strategies: The effect of negative intelligence feedback on implicit (vs. explicit) self-esteem.

Black Americans use identity-based self-protective strategies to maintain their explicit self-esteem after a threat to their intelligence. This effect is consistent with the associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model, which suggests that self-protective strategies operate during a propositional process that results in no change in explicit self-esteem. However, the APE model also suggests that implicit self-esteem may be sensitive to an intelligence threat because it increases the accessibility of automatically activated evaluations about Black Americans, namely the stereotype that their group is unintelligent. These hypotheses are tested across two experiments. Black American participants across both experiments (Experiment 1: N = 57; 40 females, Mage = 21.60; Experiment 2: N = 79; 64 females, Mage = 24.86) completed an intelligence test, then were randomly assigned to receive either negative feedback about their performance or no-feedback. Participants then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants in Experiment 2 also completed a measure of subjective identity centrality. In support of the hypotheses, Black American participants across both experiments who received negative performance feedback on an intelligence test exhibited lower implicit self-esteem compared to those who did not receive feedback. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that this effect emerged only among strongly identified Black American participants. Finally, and consistent with past research, explicit self-esteem was unaffected by negative performance feedback among all participants. This research demonstrates the boundary conditions of Black Americans' adoption of identity-based self-protective strategies to protect their implicit versus explicit self-esteem following an intelligence threat. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the (lack of) facilitative effect of emoji for word processing

We explore whether emoji were associatively linked to emotion concepts represented in emotion-laden words, in line with the Associative-Propositional Evaluation model. Specifically, we tested these principles by exploring whether emotionally-congruent emoji could enhance word processing (Study 1 & 2) and recall (Study 3). In Study 1, participants completed a lexical decision task where word valence was manipulated. Emoji were appended to words which were either congruent, incongruent, or controls. No effects were found for emoji valence on response accuracy or latency. Study 2 presented words which varied in valence alongside congruent or control emoji where self-report valence evaluations were obtained. No effects were observed for emoji valence on word valence evaluations. Study 3 included emoji as primes to test the effect on word recall. No effects were found on word recall accuracy. Overall, the current findings suggest that emoji do not support word processing and may not be associatively linked to emotion concepts.

Chinese University Students’ Perceptions of Implicit Altruism in a Time of COVID-19 Crisis

Drawing on the Associative Propositional Evaluation Model (APE), this study examined the influencing factors of Chinese university students' altruism and voluntary behaviors against the backdrop of global pandemic. A sample of 2172 Chinese university students answered the Self-developed University Students Implicit Altruism Situational Judgment Test (USIA-SJT) and The Self-report Altruism Scale (SRAS). Results show that gender, single child, years of enrollment, political status, parental education, personal/parental experiences and parental participation have statistically significant effects on the participants’ implicit and explicit altruism, which substantially impact their voluntary behaviors during the coronavirus crisis. Both EFA and CFA indicated the sound psychometric property of the Self-developed USIA-SJT, with the construction of the SIX C model, rendering it a robust measure to gauge Chinese university students’ implicit altruism as well as to predict their voluntary behaviors under serious public emergencies.

Stereotype Formation but No Dissociation: Contradicting Statistics Reduce Explicit and Implicit Stereotypes Engendered by Disproportional Crime Reporting

This study investigated the formation of criminal stereotypes about novel groups. Over 2 days, 316 participants from Prolific Academic read either equal or unequal proportions of crime reports about fictitious groups, Laapians and Niffians. On the second day, additional crime statistics indicating equal crime rates among both groups or control statistics were presented. Unequal crime reporting resulted in explicit (d = .44, p < .001) and implicit (d = .23, p = .001) stereotypes assessed with an Implicit Association Test, while equal reporting did not. On the second day, only explicit stereotypes increased in the unequal crime reporting condition (d = .25, p = .025). Contrary to predictions of the associative-propositional evaluation model, but congruent with De Houwer’s single-process propositional model, crime statistics contradicting the learned regularities reduced both explicit (d = −.43, p = .010) and implicit stereotypes (d = −.20, p = .003).

Evaluative Conditioning From the Perspective of the Associative-Propositional Evaluation Model

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is defined as the change in the evaluation of a conditioned stimulus (CS) due to its pairing with a positive or negative unconditioned stimulus (US). According to the associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model, EC effects can be the result of two functionally distinct learning mechanisms: associative and propositional learning. The current article reviews the core assumptions of the APE model regarding (1) the defining features of associative and propositional learning, (2) the mental representations resulting from the two learning mechanisms, (3) the processes involved in the behavioral expression of these representations, and (4) the automatic versus controlled nature of the processes underlying EC effects. In addition to reviewing the core assumptions of the APE model, the article reviews relevant evidence to illustrate the theory’s main hypotheses, its explanatory and predictive power, as well as empirical challenges for the theory.

Are the states underlying implicit biases unconscious? – A Neo-Freudian answer

Many philosophers as well as psychologists hold that implicit biases are due to unconscious attitudes. The justification for this unconscious-claim seems to be an inference to the best explanation of the mismatch between explicit and implicit attitudes, which is characteristic of implicit biases. The unconscious-claim has recently come under attack based on its inconsistency with empirical data. Instead, Gawronski, Hoffman, and Wilbur (2006) analyze implicit biases based on the so-called Associative-Propositional Evaluation (APE) model, according to which implicit attitudes are phenomenally conscious and accessible. The mismatch between the explicit and the implicit attitude is explained by the Cognitive Inconsistency Approach (CIA) (as I will call it): implicit attitudes are conscious but rejected as basis for explicit judgments because the latter lead to cognitive inconsistency with respect to other beliefs held by the subject. In this paper, I will argue that the CIA is problematic since it cannot account for the fact that implicit attitudes underlying implicit biases typically are unconscious. I will argue that a better explanation of the attitude-mismatch can be given in terms of a Neo-Freudian account of repression. I will develop such an account, and I will show how it can accommodate the merits of the APE model while avoiding the problems of the CIA.

Implicit Attitudes Towards an Authoritarian Regime

This study measures Egyptian citizens’ attitudes towards President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi using a Single Category Implicit Association Test (SCIAT). Roughly 58% of respondents hold positive implicit attitudes towards Sisi, which suggests a deeper reservoir of popular support than is conventionally assumed. The data also allows for an investigation of attitude dissociation, whereby individuals hold distinct implicit and explicit attitudes towards a target object. Government employees and Copts are more likely to hold positive explicit attitudes towards Sisi but negative or neutral implicit attitudes. Students appear to systematically engage in inverse dissociation -- they voice criticism towards Sisi despite holding more positive implicit attitudes. These findings are interpretable using the Associative-Propositional Evaluation model. The paper closes with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the implicit approach relative to other sensitive question techniques.

Bury the inner hatchet: Complex propositions mediate the relationship of potentially discrepant implicit and explicit attitudes on doping intention

Introducing a dual-process approach, this study extends research on the psychology of doping by considering discrepancies between athletes’ explicit and implicit evaluations of doping and the way they are cognitively resolved. Framing our hypotheses in terms of the associative-propositional evaluation model, we tested the mediating role of an exemplary extra-propositional process (moral disengagement) on the relationship between discrepant implicit and explicit evaluations and the intention to dope. Eighty participants (62 male; 16.87±1.62 years) worked through a reaction time-based test to assess their implicit evaluations of doping (associative process). Questionnaires were used to assess their explicit evaluations, moral disengagement and intentions. The results support our hypothesis and reveal a significant indirect effect for the mediation path on the relationship between discrepant evaluations and intention. This study illustrates one fundamental cognitive mechanism of doping-related information processing within an athlete's doping mind-set. Future research should focus the interaction between implicit and explicit processes and its impact on doping intention and behaviour.

Implicit and Explicit Evaluation: A Brief Review of the Associative–Propositional Evaluation Model

AbstractA central theme in contemporary psychology is the distinction between implicit and explicit evaluation. Research has shown various dissociations between the two kinds of evaluations, including different antecedents, different consequences, and discrepant evaluations of the same object. The current article provides a brief review of the associative–propositional evaluation (APE) model, which accounts for these dissociations by conceptualizing implicit and explicit evaluations as the behavioral outcomes of two functionally distinct, yet mutually interacting, mental processes. Whereas implicit evaluations are assumed to be the outcome of associative processes, explicit evaluations are conceptualized as the outcome of propositional processes. Associative processes determine the activation of mental contents on the basis of feature similarity and spatiotemporal contiguity; propositional processes involve the validation of activated mental contents on the basis of cognitive consistency. The APE model includes specific assumptions about mutual interactions between the two processes, implying precise predictions about converging versus diverging patterns of implicit and explicit evaluation.

Emotion Regulates Correspondence between Implicit and Explicit Attitudes

Different emotional experience shapes different mental environment in the expression of implicit attitude and explicit attitudes, and regulates correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes. Positive emotion increases correspondence between implicit and explicit attitude, however the effects of specific negative emotion are inconsistent. The single dimension of emotion is insufficient to explain the different effects of specific emotion. The emotional certainty and interaction between emotion and trust in intuition, also play important roles in regulating correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes. This paper systemizes the theoretical basis covering associative–propositional evaluation model(APE) and feelings–as–information model. Finally some issues which are worthwhile regarding in the domain are put forward. For example, we can explore specific emotion effects on correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes, emotion effects on correspondence between implicit and explicit stereotype, and use cognitive neuroscience technologies to reveal the neural mechanism of correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes.

The Effects of Virtual Experience on Attitudes Toward Real Brands

Although the commercial availability and implementation of virtual reality interfaces has seen rapid growth in recent years, little research has been conducted on the potential for virtual reality to affect consumer behavior. One unaddressed issue is how our real world attitudes are affected when we have a virtual experience with the target of those attitudes. This study compared participant (N=60) attitudes toward car brands before and after a virtual test drive of those cars was provided. Results indicated that attitudes toward test brands changed after experience with virtual representations of those brands. Furthermore, manipulation of the quality of this experience (in this case modification of driving difficulty) was reflected in the direction of attitude change. We discuss these results in the context of the associative-propositional evaluation model.

Evaluative Conditioning: the Role of Display Duration, Valence Intensity and Contingency Awareness

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the change of an attitude toward an affectively neutral object (conditioned stimulus, or CS), following that the object’s pairing with another positively or negatively valenced stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, or US). EC is theoretically regarded as an associative learning process in associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model, but many controversies have arisen in empirical studies of EC. Some researchers found EC could not occurred without awareness of CS-US contingencies (supports propositional account), but others didn’t. It is also still unclear whether EC relies on much attention or not. Based on propositional account, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of display duration of US, retest the effect of valence intensity, CS-US awareness, and their integrated mechanism on EC, measured by explicit evaluative rating, combined with four-picture recognition test and item-based analyses. The hypotheses were tested in a sample of 122 college students (38 males). In a 2(display duration) × 2 (valence intensity) × 2 (CS type) mixed design, with CS type as a within-group factor (CS+ means that CS was paired with positive pictures and CS- means that CS was paired with negative pictures), the participants were randomly assigned to four groups: US short display (120ms)-strong valence, US long display (1000ms)-strong valence, US short display-mild valence, and US long display-mild valence. The CSs were real pictorial trademarks but unfamiliar to the participants. USs were chosen partially from the International Affective Picture System and partially from the Internet. All pictures used in the experiment were selected based on pilot rating of valence. The experiment consisted of four sequential phases: the conditioning phase, evaluative rating phase, four-picture recognition phase and questionnaire phase. The results were analyzed by MANOVA on a global method of statistical analysis (participant-based), and on the participants’ responses to individual items (item-based) which was particularly for awareness. Multiple regression analysis and chi-square test were also conducted. Results showed that evidence was obtained for EC effect on the global level, with more positive ratings of CS+ than of the CS-. For display duration, EC emerged only on long display level, M (CS+) = 4. 68, M (CS?) = 3. 86, F (1, 111) = 25. 19, p 0. 001, 0. 21. For valence intensity, EC was found only on strong valence level, M (CS+) = 4. 57, M (CS?) = 3. 93, F (1, 111) = 14. 57, p 0. 001, 0. 16. Only the participants who were categorized as contingency aware showed significant EC effect. In addition, no effect of demand awareness and inference strategy was obtained. However, awareness neither significantly mediated the relationship between display duration and EC effects, nor that between valence intensity and EC effects. This pattern of results partly supported the hypotheses, and emphasized the role of attention and awareness on EC effect. EC relies on US display duration, US valence intensity and CS-US awareness, which in line with propositional account. Results also raise doubts about the views in implicit misattribution mechanism and APE model. EC is unlikely to be an associative evaluation process which requires little cognitive capacity and awareness. Nonetheless, the insignificant mediation effect also indicates that propositional account needs to be further modified.

Measuring Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Foreign Accented Speech

This study applies concepts and methods from the domain of Implicit Social Cognition to examine language attitudes toward foreign and U.S. accented speech. Implicit attitudes were measured using an Implicit Association Test (IAT) that incorporated audio cues as experimental stimuli. Explicit attitudes were measured through self-report questionnaires. Participants exhibited a pro-U.S. accent bias on the IAT measure but a pro-foreign accent bias on explicit measures. This divergence supports the conclusion that implicit and explicit attitudes are separable attitude constructs resulting from distinct mental processes and suggests that language attitudes research—which has traditionally measured only explicit attitudes—would benefit by incorporating indirect measures. The Associative-Propositional Evaluation Model is proposed as a comprehensive and consistent theory to explain the cognitive processing of language attitudes.

The effect of object–valence relations on automatic evaluation

Two experiments tested the effect of co-occurrence of a target object with affective stimuli on automatic evaluation of the target when the relation between the target and the affective stimuli suggests that they have opposite valence. Participants learned about targets that ended an unpleasant noise or a pleasant music. The valence of such targets is opposite to the valence of the affective stimuli that co-occur with them. Participants reported preference for targets that ended noise over targets that ended music, but automatic evaluation measures revealed the opposite preference. This suggests that automatic evaluation is sensitive to co-occurrence between stimuli more than to the relation between the stimuli, and that relational information has a stronger influence on deliberate evaluation than on automatic evaluation. These conclusions support the associative-propositional evaluation model (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006), and add evidence regarding the sensitivity of the evaluative-conditioning effect to relational information.

Changing Implicit and Explicit Prejudice

Although overt prejudice has declined in many societies over the past decades, new advancements in intergroup relations research have uncovered various kinds of subtle biases that continue to prevail despite increases in egalitarian values. Understanding the processes that may produce inconsistencies between spontaneous affective responses and self-reported explicit evaluations can provide deeper insights into conceptually different forms of prejudice, including both overt and subtle variants. In the present article, research on prejudice reduction is reviewed from the perspective of the associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model, which considers evaluations through the processes of associative activation and propositional validation. The APE model’s potential for integrating different conceptualizations of overt and subtle prejudice and the application of the model to prejudice reduction are discussed.

First Thought, Best Thought: Positive Mood Maintains and Negative Mood Degrades Implicit-Explicit Attitude Correspondence

Two studies investigate the effect of mood on the relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes toward African Americans (Experiment 1) and implicit and explicit academic attitudes (Experiment 2). Because explicit and implicit attitudes are more related when people validate their automatic attitudes as true (the associative-propositional evaluation model) and because people tend to validate their immediate reactions when they are in positive rather than negative moods (the affect-as-information model), the authors predicted a stronger implicit-explicit attitude correspondence among positive versus negative mood participants. As predicted, in both studies, participants exhibited a significant correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes when in positive moods but not when in negative moods.