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      Conscious and unconscious processes are sensitive to different types of information

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          Abstract

          We examined whether conscious and unconscious processes are differentially sensitive to different kinds of information. Using an evaluative conditioning procedure, participants were repeatedly presented with photographs of women with happy or angry expressions paired with the words “happy” or “angry.” Half of participants (the unconscious condition) observed the pairings only subliminally. The other half (the conscious condition) observed the pairings supraliminally. Subsequently, all participants rated the women in the photographs with expressionless faces. Results showed that when pairings were presented subliminally (unconscious), participants rated the women more in accordance with the emotional valence of their previous facial expressions. On the other hand, when pairings were presented supraliminally (conscious), participants rated the women more in accordance with the emotional valence of the paired words. This indicates that while conscious processes are more sensitive to language information, unconscious processes are more sensitive to facial expression information. These findings may reflect the evolutionary history of human conscious and unconscious processing.

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          Associative and propositional processes in evaluation: an integrative review of implicit and explicit attitude change.

          A central theme in recent research on attitudes is the distinction between deliberate, "explicit" attitudes and automatic, "implicit" attitudes. The present article provides an integrative review of the available evidence on implicit and explicit attitude change that is guided by a distinction between associative and propositional processes. Whereas associative processes are characterized by mere activation independent of subjective truth or falsity, propositional reasoning is concerned with the validation of evaluations and beliefs. The proposed associative-propositional evaluation (APE) model makes specific assumptions about the mutual interplay of the 2 processes, implying several mechanisms that lead to symmetric or asymmetric changes in implicit and explicit attitudes. The model integrates a broad range of empirical evidence and implies several new predictions for implicit and explicit attitude change.
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            A Theory of Unconscious Thought.

            We present a theory about human thought named the unconscious-thought theory (UTT). The theory is applicable to decision making, impression formation, attitude formation and change, problem solving, and creativity. It distinguishes between two modes of thought: unconscious and conscious. Unconscious thought and conscious thought have different characteristics, and these different characteristics make each mode preferable under different circumstances. For instance, contrary to popular belief, decisions about simple issues can be better tackled by conscious thought, whereas decisions about complex matters can be better approached with unconscious thought. The relations between the theory and decision strategies, and between the theory and intuition, are discussed. We end by discussing caveats and future directions.
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              Beyond behaviorism: on the automaticity of higher mental processes.

              The first 100 years of experimental psychology were dominated by 2 major schools of thought: behaviorism and cognitive science. Here the authors consider the common philosophical commitment to determinism by both schools, and how the radical behaviorists' thesis of the determined nature of higher mental processes is being pursued today in social cognition research on automaticity. In harmony with "dual process" models in contemporary cognitive science, which equate determined processes with those that are automatic and which require no intervening conscious choice or guidance, as opposed to "controlled" processes which do, the social cognition research on the automaticity of higher mental processes provides compelling evidence for the determinism of those processes. This research has revealed that social interaction, evaluation and judgment, and the operation of internal goal structures can all proceed without the intervention of conscious acts of will and guidance of the process.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                aki-kawa@human.tsukuba.ac.jp
                Journal
                2050
                Evolution, Mind and Behaviour
                EMB
                Akadémiai Kiadó
                March 2015
                : 13
                : 1
                : 37-46
                Affiliations
                [1 ] University of Tsukuba
                [2 ] Tokyo Seitoku University
                Author notes
                [*]

                Address for correspondence: NAOAKI KAWAKAMI, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. E-mail: aki-kawa@ 123456human.tsukuba.ac.jp

                Article
                10.1556/2050.2015.0001
                4b958b6d-514b-407f-8d2e-6283959edbbf
                The Author(s)

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                Page count
                Pages: 10

                Evolutionary Biology,Medicine,Psychology,Educational research & Statistics,Social & Behavioral Sciences
                evaluative conditioning,subliminal,unconscious processes,conscious processes

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