'Automatic' evaluation? Strategic effects on affective priming

Two studies examined strategic effects on affective priming. Extending prior research by Klauer and Teige-Mocigemba [Klauer, K. C., & Teige-Mocigemba, S. (2007). Controllability and resource dependence in automatic evaluations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 648–655], the influence of different control strategies on a priming measure of prejudice was assessed. In both studies, a short stimulus onset asynchrony between prime and target (275 ms) was implemented along with considerable time pressure. In Study 1, participants could strategically eliminate priming effects with attitudinal prime categories (Arabs and liked celebrities) represented by several exemplars per category while priming effects for control categories remained intact. In Study 2, two strategies (payoff and faking) were induced to motivate participants to respond particularly fast and accurately to incongruent targets. Both strategies were successful in counteracting the usual priming effects, while leaving priming effects for non-targeted primes intact. We consider the role of so-called implementation intentions in accounting for the present findings

The Affect Misattribution Procedure.

The Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) has been forwarded as one of the most promising alternatives to the Implicit Association Test and the evaluative-priming task for measuring attitudes such as prejudice indirectly. We investigated whether the AMP is indeed able to detect an evaluative out-group bias. In contrast to recent conclusions about the robustness of AMP effects, six out of seven pilot studies indicated that participants did not show any prejudice effects in the AMP. Yet, these pilot studies were not fully conclusive with regard to our research question because they investigated different domains of prejudice, used small sample sizes, and employed a modified AMP version. In a preregistered, high-powered AMP study, we therefore examined whether the standard AMP does reveal prejudice against Turks, the biggest minority in Germany, and found a significant, albeit very small prejudice effect. We discuss possible reasons for the AMP's weak sensitivity to evaluations in socially sensitive domains

A Revised Framework for the Investigation of Expectation Update Versus Maintenance in the Context of Expectation Violations: The ViolEx 2.0 Model

Expectations are probabilistic beliefs about the future that shape and influence our perception, affect, cognition, and behavior in many contexts. This makes expectations a highly relevant concept across basic and applied psychological disciplines. When expectations are confirmed or violated, individuals can respond by either updating or maintaining their prior expectations in light of the new evidence. Moreover, proactive and reactive behavior can change the probability with which individuals encounter expectation confirmations or violations. The investigation of predictors and mechanisms underlying expectation update and maintenance has been approached from many research perspectives. However, in many instances there has been little exchange between different research fields. To further advance research on expectations and expectation violations, collaborative efforts across different disciplines in psychology, cognitive (neuro)science, and other life sciences are warranted. For fostering and facilitating such efforts, we introduce the ViolEx 2.0 model, a revised framework for interdisciplinary research on cognitive and behavioral mechanisms of expectation update and maintenance in the context of expectation violations. To support different goals and stages in interdisciplinary exchange, the ViolEx 2.0 model features three model levels with varying degrees of specificity in order to address questions about the research synopsis, central concepts, or functional processes and relationships, respectively. The framework can be applied to different research fields and has high potential for guiding collaborative research efforts in expectation research

Changing attitudes towards psychotherapy via social observations: are similarities more important than discrepancies?

Abstract Objectives: Therapy expectations and attitudes towards psychotherapy contribute substantially to the outcome, process and duration of psychotherapy. The a priori use of role model videos seems to be promising for changing expectations and attitudes towards psychotherapy. In contrast, underlying mechanisms, like identifying with the role model, have been sparsely investigated in studies so far. For instance, the effects of similarities and differences between the role model and the observer are not clear yet. Methods: A total of 158 persons were recruited and randomly assigned to four groups. In one of three experimental groups, participants watched an expectation-optimised video with patients giving information about their mostly positive therapy outcomes (positive model). Two further experimental groups saw the same video, but either received instructions to focus on similarities (similarity group) or on differences (discrepancy group) between the patients and themselves. A further control group watched a video with patients who gave information about their symptoms. As the primary outcome variable, we assessed attitudes towards psychotherapy using the Questionnaire on Attitudes towards Psychotherapy (QAPT). It was filled in before and after watching the video and after a two-week follow-up period. Results: Contrary to the hypotheses, the discrepancy group and the experimental group without further intervention (positive model) showed significant improvements in their attitudes towards psychotherapy after watching the video, while such an effect was not found in the similarity group or control group. Conclusion: Focusing on similarities between patient examples and the observer does not support a change in therapy expectations or attitudes through observation, while a positive video model without instructions, or with the instruction to focus on differences does. Attentional interference and depth of cognitive evaluation are discussed as possible reasons. Trial registration: Ethical approval (2018-19k) was obtained from the ethics committee of the Psychological Department, University of Marburg, and the trial was registered at Aspredicted.org (#22,205; 16.04.2019)

Theoretical Claims Necessitate Basic Research: Reply to Gawronski, LeBel, Peters, and Banse (2009) and Nosek and Greenwald (2009)

The authors of this reply article note that B. Gawronski, E. P. LeBel, K. R. Peters, and R. Banse (2009) (a) expressed agreement in their comment with the analysis put forward in the target article (J. De Houwer, S. Teige-Mocigemba, A. Spruyt, & A. Moors, 2009) and (b) pointed to a further implication for the way in which the implicitness of a measure should be examined. The current authors note that B. A. Nosek and A. G. Greenwald (2009), on the other hand, raised questions in their comment about the definition of the concept "implicit" in the target article, arguing for a fundamentally different approach to measurement that emphasizes not theoretical understanding but usefulness for predicting behavior. In this reply, the current authors respond to these comments and argue that when theoretical claims are made about measures, these claims should be backed up with appropriate evidence. In the absence of basic research, measures and their relation to behavior can only be described

Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency

Information is more likely believed to be true when it feels easy rather than difficult to process. An ecological learning explanation for this fluency-truth effect implicitly or explicitly presumes that truth and fluency are positively associated. Specifically, true information may be easier to process than false information and individuals may reverse this link in their truth judgements. The current research investigates the important but so far untested precondition of the learning explanation for the fluency-truth effect. In particular, five experiments (total N = 712) test whether participants experience information known to be true as easier to process than information known to be false. Participants in Experiment 1a judged true statements easier to read than false statements. Experiment 1b was a preregistered direct replication with a large sample and again found increased legibility for true statements-importantly, however, this was not the case for statements for which the truth status was unknown. Experiment 1b thereby shows that it is not the actual truth or falsehood of information but the believed truth or falsehood that is associated with processing fluency. In Experiment 2, true calculations were rated as easier to read than false calculations. Participants in Experiment 3 judged it easier to listen to calculations generally known to be true than to calculations generally known to be false. Experiment 4 shows an effect of truth on processing fluency independent of statement familiarity. Discussion centers on the current explanation for the fluency-truth effect and the validity of processing fluency as a cue in truth judgments

Implicit Measures: A Normative Analysis and Review

Implicit measures can be defined as outcomes of measurement procedures that are caused in an automatic manner by psychological attributes. To establish that a measurement outcome is an implicit measure, one should examine (a) whether the outcome is causally produced by the psychological attribute it was designed to measure, (b) the nature of the processes by which the attribute causes the outcome, and (c) whether these processes operate automatically. This normative analysis provides a heuristic framework for organizing past and future research on implicit measures. The authors illustrate the heuristic function of their framework by using it to review past research on the 2 implicit measures that are currently most popular: effects in implicit association tests and affective priming tasks