Implicit Cognition and Addiction: A Tool for Explaining Paradoxical Behavior

Abstract

Research on implicit cognition and addiction has expanded greatly during the past decade. This research area provides new ways to understand why people engage in behaviors that they know are harmful or counterproductive in the long run. Implicit cognition takes a different view from traditional cognitive approaches to addiction by assuming that behavior is often not a result of a reflective decision that takes into account the pros and cons known by the individual. Instead of a cognitive algebra integrating many cognitions relevant to choice, implicit cognition assumes that the influential cognitions are the ones that are spontaneously activated during critical decision points. This selective review highlights many of the consistent findings supporting predictive effects of implicit cognition on substance use and abuse in adolescents and adults; reveals a recent integration with dual-process models; outlines the rapid evolution of different measurement tools; and introduces new routes for intervention.

Initial development of an implicit and explicit approach to assess psychopathy

“…This indicated a role for implicit processing (e.g. Stacy & Wiers, 2010) and thus for an associative processing system in psychopathy (Strack & Deutsch, 2004). Consistent with the prediction made, implicit processing was associated with the total PCL-SV score and Factor 1 of the PCL-SV, but not for Factor 2.…”

“…They become of direct relevance therefore to assessments of psychopathy where deception and social desirable responding are elevated (Snowden, Gray, Smith, Morris & MacCulloch, 2004), demanding a need for a range of approaches to be adopted. Implicit testing has also explored cognition and affect in considerable detail (Back, Schmukle & Egloff, 2009;Stacy &Wiers, 2010;Ireland & Birch, 2013) which further supports its relevance to measures of psychopathy where the importance of accounting for cognition and affect more is indicated, and certainly beyond explicit assessment alone.…”

“…This has been referred to as automatic processing and explores associations in memory that become spontaneously activated under various conditions (Stacy & Wiers, 2010), with no or reduced demands on cognitive effort (De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba, Spruyt & Moors, 2009;Ireland & Adams, in press). Implicit processing tendencies are considered dispositional (Bluemke, Friedrich & Zumbach, 2009) and hard to fake.…”

On the predictive validity of automatically activated approach/avoidance tendencies in abstaining alcohol-dependent patients

“…In sum, a large number of studies corroborate the assumption that alcohol addiction is mediated or maintained by automatic approach tendencies (e.g., Deutsch and Strack, 2006;Robinson and Berridge, 1993;Stacy and Wiers, 2010;Tiffany, 1990;Wiers and Stacy, 2006). Several recent studies suggest, however, that a (strong) automatic tendency to approach alcohol-related stimuli is not always present in populations that are known to (have) consume(d) high levels of alcohol.…”

Validation of the Amsterdam Beverage Picture Set: A Controlled Picture Set for Cognitive Bias Measurement and Modification Paradigms

“…Dual process models of addiction attempt to explain why people persevere in addictive behaviors while consciously knowing that the long‐term consequences may be dire, by proposing that this perseverance is partly driven by implicit or automatically activated cognitive processes that are biased “toward” drug consumption (Stacy and Wiers, 2010). Compared to explicit processes, implicit processes can be characterized by being relatively inaccessible to conscious reflection or control and being relatively fast (De Houwer et al., 2009).…”