Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI
Published on: October 6, 2011
Evaluative conditioning and conscious knowledge of contingencies: a correlational investigation with large samples
Yoav Bar-Anan1, Jan De Houwer, Brian A Nosek
1Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. baranany@bgu.ac.il
Abstract:
Evaluative conditioning (EC) is a change in the valence of a stimulus that results from pairing the stimulus with an affective stimulus. Two high-powered studies (total N = 1,161) investigated the nature of the relationship between EC and contingency awareness measured as contingency memory. Stronger EC occurred among people with more accurate and more confident memory of the pairings. Awareness was a necessary condition for EC, but EC was not necessary for awareness. Supporting a propositional account of EC, we found evidence for intentional reliance on the contingency for the evaluation of stimuli. We also found evidence that contingency memory was based both on the actual contingency and on preexisting attitudes.
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Learning
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory
Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory
Real-World Application of Classical Conditioning
Higher-order, or second-order, conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an already established conditioned stimulus through repeated pairings. For instance, if a dog has been...
Cause and Effect
Reason and Intuition

