At the boundaries of misattribution: does positivity influence judgments of familiarity in the affect misattribution procedure?

Weil, Rebecca; Palma, Tomás Alexandre Campaniço; Gawronski, Bertram

Abstract

Priming effects in the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) have been explained by a misattribution of prime-related affect to neutral targets. However, the measure has been criticized for being susceptible to intentional use of prime features in judgments of the targets. To isolate the contribution of unintentional processes, the present research expanded on the finding that positive affect can be misattributed to familiarity (i.e., positivity-familiarity effect). To the extent that prime-valence is deemed irrelevant for judgments of target-familiarity, positivity-familiarity effects in the AMP could potentially rule out intentional use of the primes. Seven experiments collectively suggest that prime-valence influences judgments of target-familiarity in the AMP, but only when the task context does not suggest a normatively accurate response to the familiarity-judgment task. Relations of positivity-familiarity effects to self-reported use of prime-valence revealed mixed results regarding the role of intentional processes. Implications for the AMP and misattribution effects are discussed.

Citation

Weil, R., Palma, T. A. C., & Gawronski, B. (2017). At the boundaries of misattribution: does positivity influence judgments of familiarity in the affect misattribution procedure?. Experimental Psychology, 64(6), 369-386. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000379

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 23, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Dec 21, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-11
• Deposit Date: Jun 20, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 21, 2018
• Journal: Experimental psychology
• Print ISSN: 1618-3169
• Publisher: Hogrefe
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 64
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 369-386
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000379
• Keywords: Affect, Familiarity, Implicit measures, Intention, Misattribution
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/452643
• Publisher URL: https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/10.1027/1618-3169/a000379
• Additional Information: This is a description of an article published in Experimental psychology. The full text is not currently available in this repository.
• Contract Date: Dec 21, 2018