Acquisition of likes and dislikes: No evidence for an influence of current dysphoric symptoms on evaluative conditioning effects in a sub-clinical sample
Résumé
Evaluative Conditioning (EC) refers to changes in the liking of a Conditioned Stimulus (CS), which are due to the fact that the stimulus has been paired with an emotional stimulus (Unconditioned Stimulus [US]). Some authors suggested that current affective states of a person could be thought of as an emotional stimulus (US) that can change the liking of environmental stimuli (CSs) encountered by the person. In the present study, we investigated the influence of current dysphoric symptoms on acquisition of likes and dislikes in a sub-clinical sample. 183 participants were engaged in an EC procedure in which CS valence was assessed after a conditioning procedure. Finally, the influence of current dysphoric symptoms on evaluative learning was investigated. We observed an Evaluative Conditioning effect, however, no effect of dysphoria levels on EC effect was observed. Implications are discussed.