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Evaluative Conditioning Study

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Evaluative conditioning is a form of conditioning whereby a neutral stimulus is paired with a positive stimulus and then the response to the positive stimulus is measured. (Brace, 2014) This type of conditioning can be applied in the real world. One use for evaluative conditioning is in advertising, whereby a product (the neutral stimulus) can be paired with positive imagery (the positive stimulus) in order to elicit a positive response from a viewer of consumer 2. One study that has measured the benefits of evaluative conditioning is a study conducted by Chen et al (2012, cited in Brace, 2014 p.160) Part of this study aimed to gauge whether or not images of sporting events were viewed more favourably when paired with images of celebrities …show more content…

The number of participants in this study in each condition was 20. This is a quarter of the number of participants in the Chen et al study, which had 80 participants in each condition. Byford (2014) states that it is difficult to take the results of a small sample size and apply the results to the general population, and therefore one must be prudent when applying these results to a project or advertisement. Social desirability bias relates to the idea that someone participating in a study may answer a question based on their idea of what someone conducing the study may want to hear, as opposed to their genuine response to the questions asked. A limitation of this study is due to the nature of the yes/no questionnaire, with regards to the experimenter being in the room with the participant. As with studies of this nature, social desirability bias is a factor to be aware of when interpreting these results. (Harrison, 2014) One strength of the DE100 study lies in the consistency of visual stimuli. As the images the participants viewed were on a pre-made slide show, the images shown and the length of time they were shown for was identical for all taking part in the study in each given control …show more content…

Larger sample sizes are needed in order to gain more convincing generalisability. Another area for development could potentially be the study of the long-term effects of evaluative conditioning. Studies such as the DE100 study, and the other studies mentioned, simply show that this type of conditioning has a short term effect. This could be explored further by potentially arranging a follow-up with participants in the study to ascertain whether they still feel more positively about the given stimuli, or whether there opinions have changed over time. Furthermore, removing the human experimenter and having all information provided by a computer may remove elements of the social desirability bias, as a participant may feel as though an interviewer would prefer them to respond in a certain way. Exploration is needed in the ways in which this bias may be alleviated. Another area of further research could potentially be the length of time visual stimuli is shown. In the DE100 study, each image was shown for a total of 3 seconds. This is divergent from the study conducted by Chen et al, who showed each image for 5 seconds, and Holland et al, who showed images for one second. Further study could aim to establish whether the length of time an image is shown has an effect of the subsequent responses given by

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