on implicit evaluations melissa j. ferguson cornell university
TRANSCRIPT
On implicit evaluations
Melissa J. Ferguson
Cornell University
On implicit evaluations:“Phil” effects with “Tony” processing
constraints
Melissa J. Ferguson
Cornell University
Implicit attitudes
• Attitudes toward stimuli that are generated spontaneously and sometimes nonconsciously
Implicit attitudes
• Attitudes toward stimuli that are generated spontaneously and sometimes nonconsciously
• Typically generated within milliseconds after perceiving the respective stimuli
• Morris et al., 1999 • Murphy & Zajonc, 1993• Niedenthal, 1990• Öhman, 1986• Whalen et al., 1998• Winkielman et al., 2005
Implicit attitudes are functional • Deliver important information about what is
desirable or harmful quickly and spontaneously
– Campbell, 1974– Damasio, 1999– Dennett, 1995– Fazio, 1989– Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1990– LeDoux, 1996– Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956
Implicit attitudes are functional
• Implicit attitudes are also sensitive to the current relevance of the stimulus
• They reflect not only whether a stimulus has been desirable on average, but whether it is particularly desirable at that very moment, given our goals
– Seibt, Häfner, & Deutsch (in press)– Sherman et al. (2003)– Ferguson & Bargh (2004)
Do they reflect current desirability? • Seibt et al. (in press)
– Will hunger influence implicit attitudes toward food?
sandwich wonderful
sandwich horrible
Do they reflect current desirability? • Seibt et al. (in press)
– Will hunger influence implicit attitudes toward food?
sandwich wonderful
sandwich horrible
Difference in speed of response
Implicit positivity toward food-related stimuli
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010
2030
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Flowers Food items
HungrySatedSeibt et al. (in press)
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Implicit positivity toward food-related stimuli
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Flowers Food items
HungrySated
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Seibt et al. (in press)
Implicit positivity toward food-related stimuli
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Flowers Food items
HungrySated
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Seibt et al. (in press)
Do they reflect current desirability? • Ferguson & Bargh (2004)
– Will playing a word game influence people’s implicit attitudes toward game-relevant stimuli?
• If they have a goal to do well vs. not
• If they are finished vs. still playing the game
Implicit positivity toward game-relevant stimuli
Ferguson and Bargh (2004)
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No Goal Achievement Goal
Finished Still Playing
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Implicit positivity toward game-relevant stimuli
Ferguson and Bargh (2004)
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No Goal Achievement Goal
Finished Still Playing
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Implicit positivity toward game-relevant stimuli
Ferguson and Bargh (2004)
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No Goal Achievement Goal
Finished Still Playing
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Implicit evaluative readiness
• When a goal is active, we implicitly evaluate goal-relevant stimuli more positively
– Without much conscious thought or intention, we become evaluatively ready to pursue our current goal
• Two questions about this phenomenon
Question 1 - How conscious?• Evaluative readiness seems functional because it
means that we can assess the current relevance of a stimulus in the blink of an eye
– Within 150 ms after we encounter a stimulus, we have constructed it in a way that facilitates our current goal
• (e.g., Lewin, 1936; Glenberg, 1997; Smith & Semin, 2004)
– But how much conscious deliberation and thought is actually required for this kind of readiness?
Question 1 - How conscious?• In all previous studies, even though the attitudes
were implicit, the goal was fully conscious
– When in a conscious goal state, people ruminate about the goal (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Oettingen & Gollwitzer, 2001, 2002)
– Participants may have implicitly evaluated the goal-relevant stimuli as positive only because they were thinking consciously about their utility beforehand
– Do people become evaluative ready even for a nonconsciously activated goal?
Question 1 - How conscious?
• Although the goal-relevant stimuli were evaluated in an implicit fashion, they were still supraliminally presented and thus consciously perceived
– Participants may have employed strategic, goal-relevant processing at some point (e.g., Klauer, Roßnagel, Musch, 1997 )
– Does evaluative readiness emerge even in response to subliminal stimuli?
Question 2 - How functional?
• Should everyone show this kind of implicit preparedness?
– Research would suggest that only those who are successful at a goal should show implicit evaluative readiness to pursue it
Question 2 - How functional?• Implicit attitudes reflect behavioral tendencies
– The more (and the more often) one shows implicit positivity toward a stimulus, the more that person should approach it
• (e.g., Custers & Aarts, 2007; Fazio & Olsen, 2003; Rydell & McConnell, 2006; Petty, Fazio, & Briñol, in press; Wittenbrink & Schwarz, 2007)
– Those who show increased implicit positivity toward goal-relevant stimuli when a goal is active should be more likely to “approach” them and succeed at the goal
– Evaluative readiness for a goal as an implicit signature of successful pursuit of that goal
Question 2 - How functional?• Implicit attitudes also increase respective behaviors
– Increased implicit positivity toward a stimulus should increase motivation and approach behaviors toward it
• (e.g., Custers & Aarts, 2005)
– Those whose attitudes are generated implicitly (versus explicitly) should have an easier time enacting corresponding judgments and behaviors (e.g., Fazio, 1989; Fazio et al., 1992; Fazio & Powell, 1997)
– Evaluative readiness for a goal as an implicit tool for the successful pursuit of that goal
Question 2 - How functional?
• Research suggests that evaluative readiness may be both an implicit signature and tool of successful regulation
• Those who are successful at a goal should be the most likely to show this kind of implicit readiness
Overview of research
• Question 1 - How conscious?
– Goal was nonconsciously activated
– Goal-relevant stimuli presented subliminally
• Question 2 - How functional?
– Goal was difficult (variability of skill)
– Skill measured objectively and subjectively
Overview of research
• Experiment 1
–Academic achievement goal
–Implicit attitudes toward:• Grades
• Library
• Books
Experiment 1
• Nonconscious goal priming– Scrambled sentence task
• Academic goal (e.g., smart, graduation, achievement)
• Control 1 - No goal (e.g., new, outside, moving)
• Control 2 - Social goal (e.g., friends, laughing, social)
• Subliminal attitude measure
• Demographic questions – GPA used as criterion of skill in the academic domain
Experiment 1
• Subliminal evaluative priming paradigm– Olson & Fazio, 2002
– Primes presented subliminally• Goal-relevant: grades, books, library • Control: chair, window, sky, etc.
– Targets presented supraliminally• Positive adjectives (e.g., wonderful)• Negative adjectives (e.g., awful)
Example trial
56 ms *
28 ms - “Tony unconscious”
42 ms
98 ms
Response
&!%$}@#
grades
&!%$}@#
wonderful
time
Experiment 1
• Design
– Goal priming • Academic achievement• Control 1 (No goal)• Control 2 (Social goal)
– Skill • High • Low
Experiment 1
• Hypothesis
– Those in academic goal condition should implicitly evaluate the academic primes more positively
• Only those who are highly skilled
Experiment 1
• Results
– Implicit positivity scores• Difference score that reflects how much academic
primes facilitated RTs to positive vs. negative targets
• Difference score for control primes used as covariate
– Significant interaction between goal and skill• F(2,79) = 4.08, p = .02
Implicit positivity toward goal-relevant primes by goal priming and skill
-100
-75
-50
-25
0
25
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75
100
Social No goal AcademicPriming Condition
Facilitation (ms)
Low SkillHigh Skill
(Ferguson, under review)
Implicit positivity toward goal-relevant primes by goal priming and skill
-100
-75
-50
-25
0
25
50
75
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Social No goal AcademicPriming Condition
Facilitation (ms)
Low SkillHigh Skill
(Ferguson, under review)
Implicit positivity toward goal-relevant primes by goal priming and skill
-100
-75
-50
-25
0
25
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75
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Social No goal AcademicPriming Condition
Facilitation (ms)
Low SkillHigh Skill
(Ferguson, under review)
Experiment 1
• Conclusions
– Evaluative readiness emerged only for highly skilled
– Even though goal was nonconsciously activated and stimuli were subliminal (or, very minimally processed)
Experiment 1
• Remaining questions
– High and low skill people may differ in their beliefs about the utility of the goal-relevant primes• Next experiment looks at implicit attitudes toward
words related to the goal itself, rather than means
– Does skill predict evaluative readiness even while holding (conscious) motivation constant?• Motivation is included as a covariate
Experiment 1
• Remaining questions
– How do we know that a goal is being activated?• Aarts, Gollwitzer, & Hassin (2004)
• Bargh et al. (2001)
• Chartrand & Bargh (1996)
• Kawada, Gollwitzer, & Bargh (2004)
– Still, how do we know that these effects result from the activation of a goal?
Experiment 1
• Remaining questions
– Goals have been distinguished from other constructs by their specific effects on behavior
• Semantic priming effects decrease rapidly – (e.g., Higgins, Bargh, & Lombardi, 1985; Srull & Wyer, 1979)
• Goal strength either stays the same or increases over the same short period of time
– (e.g., Atkinson & Birch, 1970; Bargh et al., 2001)
Overview of research
• Experiment 2
– Academic achievement goal
– Implicit attitudes toward achievement
Experiment 2
• Nonconscious goal priming– Word search puzzle
• Achievement (e.g., master, succeed, strive, achieve)
• Control (e.g., plant, carpet, ranch, shampoo)
• Subliminal attitude measure– Immediately or after a delay (map task)
• Demographic questions about skill and motivation
Experiment 2
• Evaluative priming paradigm
– Subliminally presented primes
• Goal-relevant: achievement
• Control: chair, window, sky, etc.
– Targets
• Positive and negative adjectives
Experiment 2
• Questionnaire– Demographic questions
– Skill• How difficult do you find it to get high grades in your courses
here at Cornell, on average?
• How difficult do you find it to finish your course work here at Cornell, on average?
– Motivation• How important is it to you to do well and achieve
academically?
Experiment 2
• Design
– Goal priming (achievement, control)
– Timing of attitude measure (immediate, delay)
– Skill (high, low)
Experiment 2
• Hypothesis
– Those in the goal condition should show more positive implicit attitudes toward the goal prime
• Only for high skill
• The effect should not weaken over time
Experiment 2
• Results
– Implicit positivity scores
– Significant interaction between goal, timing, and skill, F(1,83) = 5.23, p = .025
• Low skill, interaction of goal x timing, ns, p>.25
• High skill, F(1,45) = 4.11, p < .05
Implicit positivity for high skill as a function of goal priming and timing
-25
0
25
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Control GoalPriming Condition
Facilitation (ms)
ImmediateDelay
(Ferguson, under review)
Implicit positivity for high skill as a function of goal priming and timing
-25
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
Control GoalPriming Condition
Facilitation (ms)
ImmediateDelay
(Ferguson, under review)
Experiment 2• Conclusions
– Evaluative readiness emerged for highly skilled, even though goal was nonconsciously activated and stimuli were subliminal
– Effect was stronger after delay, indicating a motivational construct
– But! No effects on conscious motivation • (e.g., Aarts, Gollwitzer, & Hassin, 2004)
Experiment 3
• Remaining questions
– Goals have been activated implicitly, but because the goal primes were consciously perceived, may leave some room for conscious rumination• Subliminal goal priming task
– Measured implicit attitudes toward means for the goal, but tested whether skill was correlated with beliefs about means
Overview of research
• Experiment 3
– Goal to be thin
– Implicit attitudes toward:• Salad• Gym• Vegetables
Experiment 3
• Nonconscious goal priming– Subliminal priming of the goal to be thin
• Thin goal (thin, small)• Control (zxcvbnm)
• Subliminal attitude measure– Immediately– After 6-minute delay (map task)
• Demographic questions; motivation, skill
Experiment 3
• Subliminal evaluative priming paradigm
– Primes
• Goal-relevant: gym, salad, vegetables
• Control: chair, window, sky, etc.
– Targets
• Positive and negative adjectives
Experiment 3
• Demographic questionnaire
– Skill• “How difficult do you find it to become or stay thin?”• “How difficult do you find it to avoid eating fattening
foods?”
– Motivation • “How important is it to you to avoid eating fattening
foods?”
Experiment 3
• Demographic questionnaire
– A portion of participants reported beliefs about the relevance of the primes for the goal
• Rate the relevance of the items to the goal to be thin
• Rate the helpfulness of these items for the pursuit of the goal to be thin
Experiment 3
• Design
– Goal priming (thin, control)
– Timing of attitude measure (immediate, delay)
– Skill (high, low)
Experiment 3
• Hypothesis
– Those in goal condition should show more positive implicit attitudes toward goal primes
– Only those who are skilled
– Effect should not weaken over time
Experiment 3
• Results
– Interaction between goal priming and skill level (held in both immediate and delay condition) = .58, p = .05
• In control condition, ns, all ps > .25
• In goal condition– Skill, = .29, p = .045– Skill stayed significant (p = .07) even when
motivation was added to analysis (motivation, ns)
Implicit positivity as a function of goal and skill
-200
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0
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150
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Control ThinPriming Condition
Facilitation (ms)
Low SkillHigh Skill
(Ferguson, under review)
Experiment 3
• Results
– No correlations between skill and ratings of relevance or helpfulness for the 3 goal primes, and no differences across prime conditions
Experiment 3• Conclusions
– Highly skilled participants showed evaluative readiness, when goal was nonconsciously activated and stimuli were subliminal
– Effect held over time
– No effects on conscious motivation
Conclusions
• Question 1 - How conscious?– Not much.
– Evaluative readiness emerges even when there is little opportunity for conscious rumination, about either the goal or the attitude objects
• Question 2 - How functional?– Evaluative readiness seems to be an implicit
signature and/or tool of effective self-regulators
Ongoing research
• Evaluative readiness– Manipulate evaluative readiness and then test success– Examine development of evaluative readiness as a
function of skill and motivation– Examine possible dissociation between implicit and
explicit attitudes
• Nonconscious goal pursuit – Changes in implicit attitudes can be taken as evidence
of nonconscious goal activation – When is nonconscious goal pursuit mediated by
implicit � attitudes (see Custers & Aarts, 2007)?
Thank you
Matthew BussardTom ArmstrongKate GolenskyMin-Ha Park
Miranda StruckSasha Li
Megan FrankSarah Aslam
Shirley CuevaDmitry Dvoskin