Mind at ease puts a smile on the face: psychophysiological evidence that processing facilitation elicits positive affect.
The affect system, in its position to monitor organismic-environmental transactions, may be sensitive to the internal dynamics of information processing. Hence, the authors predicted that facilitation of stimulus processing should elicit a brief, mild, positive affective response. In 2 studies, participants watched a series of neutral pictures while the processing ease was unobtrusively manipulated. Affective reactions were assessed with facial electromyography (EMG). In both studies, easy-to-process pictures elicited higher activity over the region of zygomaticus major, indicating positive affect. The EMG data were paralleled by self-reports of positive responses to the facilitated stimuli. The findings suggest a close link between processing dynamics and affect and may help understand several preference phenomena, including the mere-exposure effect. The findings also highlight a potential source of affective biases in social judgments.
Winkielman
P
P
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Colorado 80208, USA. pwinkiel@du.edu
Cacioppo
J T
JT
D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D011897:Random Allocation; D012904:Smiling; D012931:Social Environment; D012932:Social Facilitation; D013997:Time Factors