Manipulating Attitude Change Toward Michigan Fans by Using Facial Expressions in Evaluative Conditioning

Psychology: 3rd Place (The Ohio State University Denman Undergraduate Research Forum)This experiment examined the role of implicit misattribution in an evaluative conditioning (EC) procedure aimed at modifying attitudes toward outgroup members (Michigan fans). EC is attitude change toward an object (conditioned stimulus, CS) due to its pairing with another valenced object (unconditioned stimulus, US). The present research tests the Implicit Misattribution Model (IMM; Jones, Fazio, & Olson, 2009) by examining facial expressions as a factor influencing EC. The IMM proposes that EC occurs when viewers unconsciously misattribute their attitude towards the US to the CS and any factor that promotes confusability regarding the source of the activated evaluation fosters such implicit misattribution. We predicted that participants who view smiling Michigan fans as CS will develop less negative implicitly measured attitudes towards Michigan due to increased source confusability, relative to participants who view frowning Michigan fans as CS. After undergoing the EC procedure, participants completed the personalized Implicit Association Test (pIAT), which tested how easily they associated Michigan with liked versus disliked objects. Three conditions varied with respect to the pairings presented during surveillance: high source confusability, which showed smiling Michigan fans with positive US; low source confusability, which showed frowning Michigan fans with positive US; and control, which did not pair Michigan fans with particular US. Those in the high source confusability condition displayed less implicitly-measured negative attitudes towards Michigan than participants in the other two conditions. This provides support for the IMM of EC. Applying this knowledge could potentially lower discrimination and prejudice toward outgroup members.Social and Behavioral Sciences GrantAcademic Major: Psycholog