Of two minds: forming and changing valence-inconsistent implicit and explicit attitudes

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Implicit and explicit attitudes are distinct psychological constructs.
• Understanding their differential sensitivity to information is crucial for attitude formation theories.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how implicit and explicit attitudes are differentially affected by various types of attitude-relevant information.
• To examine the temporal dynamics of attitude formation and change based on conscious and unconscious information processing.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal measurement of both implicit and explicit attitudes towards a single attitude object.
• Presentation of attitude-relevant information varying in conscious accessibility (verbal behavior) and subliminal valence (primes).

Main Results:

• Explicit attitudes were primarily influenced by consciously processed behavioral information.
• Implicit attitudes were shaped by the valence of subliminally presented primes, indicating associative learning.
• Conflicting valences between subliminal primes and behavioral information led to divergent implicit and explicit attitudes.

Conclusions:

• Implicit and explicit attitudes are indeed differentially sensitive to distinct information types.
• Attitude formation is a complex process influenced by both conscious evaluation and unconscious associations.
• The findings highlight the potential for internal attitude conflict when different information streams convey opposing valences.