Attitudes from mere co-occurrences are guided by differentiation

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Attitude formation often relies on comparing object attributes.
• The differentiation principle states that unique attributes shape attitudes, while redundant ones are disregarded.
• Evaluative conditioning involves attitudes influenced by co-occurring stimuli, not inherent attributes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the differentiation principle applies to co-occurrence-based attitude formation (evaluative conditioning).
• To determine how distinct versus redundant co-occurring stimuli influence attitudes toward unknown brands.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 7 experiments with 1611 participants.
• Assessed attitude formation toward unknown brands using evaluative conditioning.
• Manipulated the distinctiveness of co-occurring positive or negative stimuli.

Main Results:

• Co-occurrence-based attitude formation followed the differentiation principle, similar to attribute-based formation.
• Distinct co-occurring stimuli most strongly influenced brand attitudes.
• Redundant co-occurring stimuli had weaker effects on attitudes.
• Differentiation appears to operate during the learning stage, offering a processing advantage to distinct co-occurrences.

Conclusions:

• The differentiation principle is a fundamental mechanism in both attribute-based and co-occurrence-based attitude formation.
• Distinctiveness of co-occurring stimuli is crucial for effective evaluative conditioning.
• Differentiation may contribute to the formation of biased attitudes.