Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2025

Trace Fear Conditioning in Mice
Published on: March 20, 2014
The interplay of multiple unconditioned stimuli in evaluative conditioning: A weighted averaging framework for
Moritz Ingendahl1, Tobias Vogel2, Johanna Woitzel1
1Department of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum.
Abstract:
Evaluative conditioning (EC) is a key effect in attitude formation, leading to changes in the liking of neutral attitude objects due to their pairing with positive or negative stimuli. Despite EC's significance, current theories and most empirical findings are limited to stimulus pairings with a single affective stimulus at a time. In contrast, social environments often involve more complex combinations of affective stimuli. In this article, we introduce a novel framework grounded in information integration research to understand how conditioned attitudes develop in the presence of multiple affective stimuli. Through 10 experiments with different designs, measures, materials, and pairing procedures, we find that individuals' conditioned attitudes follow the average valence of all affective stimuli present with a stronger weighting of negative stimuli. This weighted averaging rule bears two implications for EC in more complex stimulus combinations. First, EC effects are nonmonotonous, such that additional stimuli of the same valence do not produce incremental EC effects. Second, EC effects are interdependent, such that the impact of one stimulus is weakest when accompanied by another negative stimulus and strongest when no other affective stimulus is present. We examine different cognitive processes underlying this weighted averaging rule, including potential differences in pairing memory or changes in the affective stimuli's valence when other stimuli are present. Our findings present a novel theoretical perspective on EC and offer valuable insights into attitude change from stimulus co-occurrences in stimulus-rich environments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Related Concept Videos
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...
Principles of Classical Conditioning
During the...
Classical Conditioning in Daily Life
John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner famously demonstrated the development of fear through classical conditioning in their experiment with Little Albert. They paired the...
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov observed that dogs...
Associative Learning
Classical conditioning, also known...
Behaviorism
The core premise of behaviorism is its focus on observable behavior rather than internal thoughts or feelings. This approach argues that true scientific...

