How effectively can implicit evaluations be updated? Using evaluative statements after aversive repeated evaluative pairings.

Implicit evaluations (attitudes) are often described as resistant to change, especially when they were initially formed in a seemingly associative manner, such as via repeated evaluative pairings (REP), and new learning is created via propositional material, such as evaluative statements (ES). The present research (total N = 2,124) tested the responsiveness of implicit evaluations instantiated via REP to updating via different types of ES. In Experiment 1, initial learning was created via repeatedly pairing a novel target with strongly negative stimuli (screams) in an aversive REP (A-REP) task. Subsequent ES of opposing valence providing diagnostic information about the target's behavior substantially updated implicit (IAT) evaluations. In Experiment 2, behavioral ES resulted in successful updating after A-REP whether or not they provided an explanation for the initial A-REP learning. A previously unobtained result emerged in Experiment 3 showing that updating was durable even after 1 day. Finally, in Experiment 4, implicit evaluations were updated via diagnostic behavioral ES, but not via an ES instruction to suppose that different pairings had occurred during A-REP. Taken together, these experiments challenge associative theories of implicit evaluation by demonstrating that diagnostic behavioral statements can durably override the effects of initial learning on implicit evaluations, even if such initial learning is aversive and involves direct experience with stimulus pairings. Moreover, by showing that verbal manipulations based on diagnostic behavior but not a mere supposition instruction had impact, the present project advances theory by starting to identify the nature of learning that can adaptively update social impressions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).