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Dissociable positive and negative affective reactions to mere exposed and easy to process negative and neutral stimuli

Young, Steven G.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281462260

Abstract Details

2010, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Psychology.
Unreinforced exposure to initially neutral stimuli has long been known to increase liking for objects, a phenomenon known as the mere-exposure (ME) effect. Recent evidence indicates that the preference for familiar stimuli is the result of repeated exposure engendering fluent, easy processing of the previously encountered stimuli. However, little research has explored how such processing fluency affects evaluations of negative, threatening stimuli. The current work presents two experiments conducted to explore the evaluative consequences of making both neutral and negative stimuli fluent via a manipulation of mere exposure (Experiment 1) and stimulus clarity (Experiment 2). Drawing from models of the affect system that posit negative and positive evaluative reactions are processed via independent and dissociable channels, I predicted that fluent processing of neutral objects would increase positive affect, but not influence negative affect. Conversely, I predict that fluent processing of negative objects would lead to a decrease in negative affect but have no bearing on positive affective reactions. The results provided mixed support for the hypotheses. In both studies, there was no evidence of evaluative shifts in favor of fluent neutral stimuli. However, both Experiments 1 and 2 found some evidence for selectively decreased negative affective reactions in response to negative stimuli. Finally, several individual differences known to moderate fluency effects were included, with some evidence that boredom proneness interacts with processing ease and stimulus valence to determine participants’ affective reactions. Implication of these findings for theoretical accounts of mere exposure and fluency effects are discussed.
Heather Claypool, PhD (Committee Chair)
Kurt Hugenberg, PhD (Committee Member)
Allen McConnell, PhD (Committee Member)
Larry Nadler, PhD (Committee Member)
38 p.
Psychology
Mere Exposure; Fluency; Affect and Emotion

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Young, S. G. (2010). Dissociable positive and negative affective reactions to mere exposed and easy to process negative and neutral stimuli [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281462260

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Young, Steven. Dissociable positive and negative affective reactions to mere exposed and easy to process negative and neutral stimuli. 2010. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281462260.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Young, Steven. "Dissociable positive and negative affective reactions to mere exposed and easy to process negative and neutral stimuli." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1281462260

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1281462260
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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.