Evaluative conditioning in social psychology: Facts and speculations

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to examine the contribution of evaluative conditioning (EC) to attitude formation theory in social psychology. This aim is pursued on two fronts. First, evaluative conditioning is analysed for its relevance to social psychological research. We show that conditioned attitudes can be acquired through simple co‐occurrences of a neutral and a valenced stimulus. Moreover, we argue that conditioned attitudes are not confined to direct contact with a valenced stimulus, but can be formed and dynamically reformed indirectly, through association chains. Second, social research is examined in an effort to identify evaluative learning mechanisms. We suggest that several important phenomena in social psychology (e.g., ingroup favouritism, prejudice, name letter effect) are at least partly due to simple mechanisms of evaluative learning. The implications for attitude formation theory and for applied settings are discussed.

Notes

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eva Walther, Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 47–51, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany; e‐mail: [email protected]‐heidelberg.de

This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. We are grateful to Tina Langer, M. W. Utzi, and Joerg Wolter for their constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article. Thanks are also due to John Bargh, who directed our attention to the close relationship between evaluative conditioning and balance theory.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eva Walther

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Eva Walther, Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 47–51, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany; e‐mail: [email protected]‐heidelberg.de

This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. We are grateful to Tina Langer, M. W. Utzi, and Joerg Wolter for their constructive comments on an earlier draft of this article. Thanks are also due to John Bargh, who directed our attention to the close relationship between evaluative conditioning and balance theory.