Enhancing the Conceptualization and Measurement of Implicit and Explicit Affective Evaluations: A Case Study in Disordered Eating

Abstract

Affective evaluations (i.e., evaluations of affectively evocative stimuli) play important roles in many behaviors, including clinically relevant behaviors like disordered eating. Understanding automatic and controlled affective evaluations can enhance prediction and treatment of more deliberate versus more impulsive clinical behaviors, respectively. However, methodological and theoretical shortcomings cloud the implicit affective evaluation literature, particularly as applied in clinical psychology. This article aims to improve the clinical science of implicit and explicit affective evaluation by capitalizing on theoretical and methodological advancements drawn from implicit social cognition. We recommend three key enhancements to the affective evaluation literature: improve the structural comparability between indirect and direct measures, assess evaluations on both valence and arousal dimensions of affect, and carefully characterize and select stimuli. Additional improvements to analytic approaches (e.g., mixed effects modeling and process dissociation) are also recommended. Such efforts will advance our theoretical understanding of the relative contributions of automatic and controlled processes to clinically relevant affective evaluation, thereby informing assessment and improving intervention. Applying advanced methodologies of implicit cognition to clinical phenomena will also reiterate and reinforce the use of these advances in social psychology.Most of us have eaten mindlessly -when an engrossing movie grabs our attention, we may be surprised to find we have emptied the popcorn bucket accidentally. Most of us have also eaten mindfully -when savoring a glass of wine, we might consciously appreciate its nuances and f lavors. These are but two examples of how affective evaluations of food can determine eating behavior. Indeed, research finds that we are more likely to approach (Chen & Bargh, 1999) and consume (e.g., Drewnowski, Henderson, Levine, & Hann, 1999) foods that we evaluate positively. In the current review, we examine how methodological insights from implicit social cognition can inform the study of affective evaluations of food in clinical populations, and in turn, how applications in clinical psychology can inform theory and measurement in social psychology.The processes underlying affective evaluations (i.e., evaluations of affectively evocative stimuli) fall along a spectrum from purely automatic to purely controlled, and a number of dual process models have been proposed to explain the interactive inf luences of these processes (e.g., Jacoby,

Photograph Based Evaluation of Consumer Expectation on Healthiness, Fullness, and Acceptance of Sandwiches as Convenience Food

“…Using visual stimuli in consumer studies has also increased during the last years [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Using images of food is easier than manipulating food products in research in the eating domain [ 26 ]. Moreover, the visual appearance packaging [ 4 , 27 , 28 ] may also create expectations in the consumer who may be interested in purchasing the product.…”