False memories, but not false beliefs, affect implicit attitudes for food preferences

Howe, David; Anderson, Rachel J.; Dewhurst, Stephen A.

Abstract

Previous studies have found that false memories and false beliefs of childhood experiences can have attitudinal consequences. Previous studies have, however, focused exclusively on explicit attitude measures without exploring whether implicit attitudes are similarly affected. Using a false feedback/imagination inflation paradigm, false memories and beliefs of enjoying a certain food as a child were elicited in participants, and their effects were assessed using both explicit attitude measures (self-report questionnaires) and implicit measures (a Single-Target Implicit Association Test). Positive changes in explicit attitudes were observed both in participants with false memories and participants with false beliefs. In contrast, only participants with false memories exhibited more positive implicit attitudes. The findings are discussed in terms of theories of explicit and implicit attitudes.

Citation

Howe, D., Anderson, R. J., & Dewhurst, S. A. (2017). False memories, but not false beliefs, affect implicit attitudes for food preferences. Acta Psychologica, 179, 14-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.07.002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 4, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jul 7, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Deposit Date: Jul 4, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 8, 2019
• Journal: Acta psychologica
• Print ISSN: 0001-6918
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-6297
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 179
• Pages: 14-22
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.07.002
• Keywords: False memories; False beliefs; Explicit attitudes; Implicit attitudes; False-feedback
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/453264
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169181730080X
• Additional Information: This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Acta psychologica, 2017. The version of record is available at the DOI link in this record.