VERBAL EVALUATIVE CONDITIONING WITH UNDETECTED US PRESENTATIONS

In evaluative conditioning research it has been shown that a neutral s timulus (CS) acquires the valence of a positive or negative stimulus ( US) with which it is presented contingently. An experiment is reported in which it is examined whether evaluative shifts can also be observe d in the complete absence of contingency-awareness. Neutral words were either followed by a briefly presented positive or negative word. Res ults showed that neutral words which were presented contingently with a positive word, were afterwards liked more than words which were pair ed with negative words. This result was obtained despite the fact that Ss were not aware of the presentation of the briefly presented USs.