title: The implicit influence of a negative mood on the subliminal mere exposure effect.
abstract: Despite numerous studies on the mere exposure effect, it is still not clear why it occurs. The present study examined whether a negative mood would enhance or inhibit the effects. Fifty-two participants (30 men, 22 women; M age = 20.5 yr.) were assigned to one of two mood-induction groups (negative and neutral), and were exposed to a photograph 20 times after the mood induction. Thereafter, a single-category Implicit Association Test was conducted to measure their implicit attitudes toward the photograph. There was a significant interaction, with exposed stimuli evaluated more favorably than unexposed stimuli in the neutral condition, but not in the negative condition. This result suggests that a negative mood inhibited the mere exposure effect, implying that people could use their emotional states as cues to evaluate ambiguous objects that they have been repeatedly exposed to.
authors: Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. aki-kawa@human.tsukuba.ac.jp
authors: Naoaki
authors: N
authors: Kawakami
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult