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The role of awareness and demand in evaluative learning

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Abstract
Human likes and dislikes can be established or changed in numerous ways. Three of the most well-studied procedures involve exposing people to regularities in the environment (evaluative conditioning, approach-avoidance, mere exposure), to verbal information about upcoming regularities (evaluative conditioning, approach-avoidance, or mere exposure information), or to verbal information about the evaluative properties of an attitude object (persuasive messages). In the present study, we investigated the relation between, on the one hand, different types of experiment-related beliefs (regularity, influence, and hypothesis awareness) and demand reactions (demand compliance and reactance) and, on the other hand, evaluative learning about novel food brands (Experiments 1 and 2) and well-known food brands (Experiment 2) via persuasive messages, experienced regularities, and verbal information about regularities. Participants were first exposed to an evaluative learning phase and then completed self-reported evaluation ratings, an Implicit Association Test, and a behavioral intention measure. Results indicate that regularity awareness was a necessary condition for most evaluative learning effects. Influence awareness was also a strong moderator of evaluative effects but more so for effects on self-reported ratings. Hypothesis awareness and reactance only weakly moderated evaluative learning, and demand compliance only played an important role for well-known brands. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.
Keywords
evaluative learning, awareness, demand reactions, persuasion, regularities, IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST, ATTITUDE FORMATION, CONTINGENCY AWARENESS, VALENCE, RECOMMENDATIONS, INSTRUCTIONS, NEED

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Citation

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MLA
Van Dessel, Pieter, et al. “The Role of Awareness and Demand in Evaluative Learning.” JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 2025, doi:10.1037/pspa0000423.
APA
Van Dessel, P., Hughes, S. J., Perugini, M., Smith, C. T., Mao, Z., & De Houwer, J. (2025). The role of awareness and demand in evaluative learning. JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000423
Chicago author-date
Van Dessel, Pieter, Sean Joseph Hughes, Marco Perugini, Colin Tucker Smith, Zhefei Mao, and Jan De Houwer. 2025. “The Role of Awareness and Demand in Evaluative Learning.” JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000423.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Van Dessel, Pieter, Sean Joseph Hughes, Marco Perugini, Colin Tucker Smith, Zhefei Mao, and Jan De Houwer. 2025. “The Role of Awareness and Demand in Evaluative Learning.” JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. doi:10.1037/pspa0000423.
Vancouver
1.
Van Dessel P, Hughes SJ, Perugini M, Smith CT, Mao Z, De Houwer J. The role of awareness and demand in evaluative learning. JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2025;
IEEE
[1]
P. Van Dessel, S. J. Hughes, M. Perugini, C. T. Smith, Z. Mao, and J. De Houwer, “The role of awareness and demand in evaluative learning,” JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 2025.
@article{01J5TGM3JMBTS0J35N6P90HXEH,
  abstract     = {{Human likes and dislikes can be established or changed in numerous ways. Three of the most well-studied procedures involve exposing people to regularities in the environment (evaluative conditioning, approach-avoidance, mere exposure), to verbal information about upcoming regularities (evaluative conditioning, approach-avoidance, or mere exposure information), or to verbal information about the evaluative properties of an attitude object (persuasive messages). In the present study, we investigated the relation between, on the one hand, different types of experiment-related beliefs (regularity, influence, and hypothesis awareness) and demand reactions (demand compliance and reactance) and, on the other hand, evaluative learning about novel food brands (Experiments 1 and 2) and well-known food brands (Experiment 2) via persuasive messages, experienced regularities, and verbal information about regularities. Participants were first exposed to an evaluative learning phase and then completed self-reported evaluation ratings, an Implicit Association Test, and a behavioral intention measure. Results indicate that regularity awareness was a necessary condition for most evaluative learning effects. Influence awareness was also a strong moderator of evaluative effects but more so for effects on self-reported ratings. Hypothesis awareness and reactance only weakly moderated evaluative learning, and demand compliance only played an important role for well-known brands. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Van Dessel, Pieter and Hughes, Sean Joseph and Perugini, Marco and Smith, Colin Tucker and Mao, Zhefei and De Houwer, Jan}},
  issn         = {{0022-3514}},
  journal      = {{JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY}},
  keywords     = {{evaluative learning,awareness,demand reactions,persuasion,regularities,IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST,ATTITUDE FORMATION,CONTINGENCY AWARENESS,VALENCE,RECOMMENDATIONS,INSTRUCTIONS,NEED}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{The role of awareness and demand in evaluative learning}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000423}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

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