Of two minds: forming and changing valence-inconsistent implicit and explicit attitudes.
Because different processes underlie implicit and explicit attitudes, we hypothesized that they are differentially sensitive to different kinds of information. We measured implicit and explicit attitudes over time, as different types of attitude-relevant information about a single attitude object were presented. As expected, explicit attitudes formed and changed in response to the valence of consciously accessible, verbally presented behavioral information about the target. In contrast, implicit attitudes formed and changed in response to the valence of subliminally presented primes, reflecting the progressive accretion of attitude object-evaluation pairings. As a consequence, when subliminal primes and behavioral information were of opposite valence, people formed implicit and explicit attitudes of conflicting valence.
Rydell
Robert J
RJ
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660, USA. rydell@psych.ucsb.edu
McConnell
Allen R
AR
Mackie
Diane M
DM
Strain
Laura M
LM
D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D011930:Reaction Time; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology