On implicit evaluations

1
On implicit evaluations

• Melissa J. Ferguson
• Cornell University

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On implicit evaluationsPhil effects with
Tony processing constraints

• Melissa J. Ferguson
• Cornell University

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Implicit attitudes

• Attitudes toward stimuli that are generated
  spontaneously and sometimes nonconsciously

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Implicit attitudes

• Attitudes toward stimuli that are generated
  spontaneously and sometimes nonconsciously
• Typically generated within milliseconds after
  perceiving the respective stimuli

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• Morris et al., 1999
• Murphy Zajonc, 1993
• Niedenthal, 1990
• Öhman, 1986
• Whalen et al., 1998
• Winkielman et al., 2005

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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

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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)

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Do they reflect current desirability?

• Seibt et al. (in press)
• Will hunger influence implicit attitudes toward
  food?
• sandwich wonderful
• sandwich horrible

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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
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Implicit positivity toward food-related stimuli
Facilitation (ms)
Hungry
Sated

• Seibt et al. (in press)

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Implicit positivity toward food-related stimuli
Facilitation (ms)
Hungry
Sated

• Seibt et al. (in press)

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Implicit positivity toward food-related stimuli
Facilitation (ms)
Hungry
Sated

• Seibt et al. (in press)

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Do they reflect current desirability?

• Ferguson Bargh (2004)
• Will playing a word game influence peoples
  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

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Implicit positivity toward game-relevant stimuli
Facilitation (ms)
Finished
Still Playing

• Ferguson and Bargh (2004)

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Implicit positivity toward game-relevant stimuli
Facilitation (ms)
Finished
Still Playing

• Ferguson and Bargh (2004)

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Implicit positivity toward game-relevant stimuli
Facilitation (ms)
Finished
Still Playing

• Ferguson and Bargh (2004)

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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

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Overview of research

• Experiment 1
• Academic achievement goal
• Implicit attitudes toward
• Grades
• Library
• Books

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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

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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)

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Example trial
56 ms
!_at_
28 ms - Tony unconscious
grades
42 ms
!_at_
time
98 ms
wonderful
Response
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Experiment 1

• Design
• Goal priming
• Academic achievement
• Control 1 (No goal)
• Control 2 (Social goal)
• Skill
• High
• Low

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Experiment 1

• Hypothesis
• Those in academic goal condition should
  implicitly evaluate the academic primes more
  positively
• Only those who are highly skilled

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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

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Implicit positivity toward goal-relevant primes
by goal priming and skill
(Ferguson, under review)
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Implicit positivity toward goal-relevant primes
by goal priming and skill
(Ferguson, under review)
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Implicit positivity toward goal-relevant primes
by goal priming and skill
(Ferguson, under review)
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Experiment 1

• Conclusions
• Evaluative readiness emerged only for highly
  skilled
• Even though goal was nonconsciously activated and
  stimuli were subliminal (or, very minimally
  processed)

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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

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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?

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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)

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Overview of research

• Experiment 2
• Academic achievement goal
• Implicit attitudes toward achievement

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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

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Experiment 2

• Evaluative priming paradigm
• Subliminally presented primes
• Goal-relevant achievement
• Control chair, window, sky, etc.
• Targets
• Positive and negative adjectives

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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?

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Experiment 2

• Design
• Goal priming (achievement, control)
• Timing of attitude measure (immediate, delay)
• Skill (high, low)

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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

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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,
  pgt.25
• High skill, F(1,45) 4.11, p lt .05

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Implicit positivity for high skill as a function
of goal priming and timing
(Ferguson, under review)
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Implicit positivity for high skill as a function
of goal priming and timing
(Ferguson, under review)
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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)

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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

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Overview of research

• Experiment 3
• Goal to be thin
• Implicit attitudes toward
• Salad
• Gym
• Vegetables

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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

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Experiment 3

• Subliminal evaluative priming paradigm
• Primes
• Goal-relevant gym, salad, vegetables
• Control chair, window, sky, etc.
• Targets
• Positive and negative adjectives

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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?

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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

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Experiment 3

• Design
• Goal priming (thin, control)
• Timing of attitude measure (immediate, delay)
• Skill (high, low)

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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

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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 gt .25
• In goal condition
• Skill, ? .29, p .045
• Skill stayed significant (p .07) even when
  motivation was added to analysis (motivation, ns)

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Implicit positivity as a function of goal and
skill
(Ferguson, under review)
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Experiment 3

• Results
• No correlations between skill and ratings of
  relevance or helpfulness for the 3 goal primes,
  and no differences across prime conditions

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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

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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

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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)?

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Thank you

• Matthew Bussard
• Tom Armstrong
• Kate Golensky
• Min-Ha Park
• Miranda Struck
• Sasha Li
• Megan Frank
• Sarah Aslam
• Shirley Cueva
• Dmitry Dvoskin