Operant evaluative conditioning is sensitive to US-revaluation.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Consumer Psychology

Background:

• Instrumental responses can acquire evaluative properties through operant conditioning.
• Stimuli paired with these responses can elicit conditioned effects, influencing attitudes.
• Understanding how action-outcome relationships shape preferences is crucial for consumer behavior research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how instrumental responses with acquired evaluative properties influence evaluations of neutral stimuli.
• To examine the role of action-outcome value in shaping consumer preferences and attitudes.
• To test an S:R-S model where the unconditioned stimulus (US) acts as a referent for conditioned stimulus (CS) evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments utilized operant conditioning to link instrumental responses (key presses) with differential rewards (monetary or token).
• Participants categorized neutral stimuli (brands) paired with these responses during an instrumental extinction phase.
• Experiment 2 included a postconditioning revaluation of token currencies to assess its impact on stimulus evaluation.

Main Results:

• Brands paired with higher-value responses were evaluated more positively.
• Postconditioning revaluation of outcomes significantly shifted brand evaluations, favoring stimuli linked to upvalued responses.
• Conditioned stimulus evaluations were dependent on the current value of the conditioned outcome.

Conclusions:

• Action-outcome relationships play a significant role in shaping consumer preferences and attitudes.
• The value of the outcome associated with an instrumental response influences the evaluation of stimuli linked to that response.
• Findings support an S:R-S account, demonstrating that conditioned stimulus evaluations are relative to the value of the unconditioned stimulus.