Universität zu Köln

Bading, Karoline (2021). Does association formation contribute to evaluative conditioning? A review of current methodologies and their findings. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

In this dissertation, I address the question of whether association formation contributes to evaluative conditioning (EC). EC refers to a change in the evaluation of a stimulus (CS) that is due to its co-occurrence with another, valenced stimulus (US). EC can be explained from two distinct theoretical perspectives: according to the propositional approach, EC is mediated by the non-automatic formation of propositions about the relation between the co-occurring stimuli; whereas, according to the associative approach, EC is mediated by the automatic formation of associations between the mental representations of the co-occurring stimuli. While the contribution of proposition formation to EC is supported by unique evidence and therefore uncontroversial, a potential contribution of association formation is still hotly debated. In this dissertation, I try to contribute to this theoretical discussion in three critical lines of research that have the potential to provide unique empirical support for association formation in EC. In a first line of research, I tried to gather unique evidence for association formation in EC by investigating whether EC can emerge in the absence of awareness for the CS-US co-occurrence (a necessary condition for the formation of propositions but not of associations). In a second line of research, I investigated whether a recently reported dissociation between directly vs. indirectly measured CS evaluations (seemingly providing unique support for association formation) can be equally explained from a purely propositional perspective. Finally, in a third line of research, I demonstrated that a recently introduced methodology for studying association formation in EC is severely confounded with a propositional alternative explanation, and can therefore not provide unambiguous evidence for association formation (at least, not in its current state). Taken together, this dissertation therefore shows that unique empirical support for association formation in EC is still lacking, and that novel methodological approaches are needed for such support to ever be found.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Bading, Karoline karoline.bading@uni-jena.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-540590
Date:	November 2021
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie
Subjects:	Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language association formation, propositional learning, evaluative conditioning UNSPECIFIED
Date of oral exam:	18 November 2021
Referee:	Name Academic Title Stahl, Christoph Dr. Unkelbach, Christian Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/54059