Inhaltszusammenfassung

Recent studies explored whether attitude formation in early childhood can be explained in terms of evaluative conditioning (EC), the change in liking that is due to the pairing of stimuli. This study sought to replicate and extend this line of research by investigating whether and under what conditions preschool children generalise EC effects from conditioned to novel stimuli. Specifically, two experiments were conducted in which 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 139) observed the pairing of two...Recent studies explored whether attitude formation in early childhood can be explained in terms of evaluative conditioning (EC), the change in liking that is due to the pairing of stimuli. This study sought to replicate and extend this line of research by investigating whether and under what conditions preschool children generalise EC effects from conditioned to novel stimuli. Specifically, two experiments were conducted in which 3- to 6-year-old children (N = 139) observed the pairing of two cartoon characters with two positive and negative images. Afterwards, children evaluated the paired characters as well as other novel characters, which were not previously presented, that varied systematically in their perceptual similarity to the conditioned stimuli (Experiments 1 & 2), or that could be grouped by a categorisation rule (Experiment 2). It was found that children generalised attitudes to perceptually similar stimuli, but not to stimuli related by a categorisation rule, despite evidence for rule-learning. Implications of these findings for attitude development are discussed. » weiterlesen» einklappen

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