Approach–Avoidance Training Effects Are Moderated by Awareness of Stimulus–Action Contingencies. (January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Van Dessel, Pieter; De Houwer, Jan; Gast, Anne
• Is Part Of: Personality & social psychology bulletin. Volume 42:Number 1(2016:Jan.)
• Page Start: 81
• Page End: 93
• Publication Date: 2016-01
• Subjects: approach -- avoidance -- training -- contingency awareness -- implicit attitudes; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167215615335
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1672

Abstract

Prior research suggests that repeatedly approaching or avoiding a stimulus changes the liking of that stimulus. In two experiments, we investigated the relationship between, on one hand, effects of approach–avoidance (AA) training on implicit and explicit evaluations of novel faces and, on the other hand, contingency awareness as indexed by participants' memory for the relation between stimulus and action. We observed stronger effects for faces that were classified as contingency aware and found no evidence that AA training caused changes in stimulus evaluations in the absence of contingency awareness. These findings challenge the standard view that AA training effects are (exclusively) the product of implicit learning processes, such as the automatic formation of associations in memory.