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Cited by 1,473Social and Intergroup PsychologyBehavioral Health and InterventionsPsychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

Consequences of automatic evaluation: Immediate behavioral predispositions to approach or avoid the stimulus

Chen, Mark, Bargh, John A.·1999·Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
DOI 10.1177/0146167299025002007
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Abstract

Research on automatic attitude activation has documented a pervasive tendency to nonconsciously classify most if not all incoming stimuli as either good or bad. Two experiments tested a functional explanation for this effect. The authors hypothesized that automatic evaluation results directly in behavioral predispositions toward the stimulus, such that positive evaluations produce immediate approach tendencies, and negative evaluations produce immediate avoidance tendencies. Participants responded to attitude object stimuli either by pushing or by pulling a lever. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants were faster to respond to negatively valenced stimuli when pushing the lever away (avoid) than when pulling it toward them (approach) but were faster to respond to positive stimuli by pulling than by pushing the lever. This pattern held even when evaluation of the stimuli was irrelevant to the participants’ conscious task. The automatic classification of stimuli as either good or bad appears to have direct behavioral consequences.

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  • As a general principle, individuals are faster to approach stimuli they perceive as positive than stimuli they perceive as negative and show faster avoidance of negative stimuli relative to positive.

    “As a general principle individuals are faster to approach stimuli in the environment they perceive as positive (e.g., positive words) than stimuli they perceive as negative (e.g., negative words) and show faster avoidance of negative stimuli relative to positive [27], [28], [29], [30].”

    From A direct examination of the effect of intranasal administration of oxytocin on approach-avoidance motor responses to emotional stimuli (2013) · cites this paper as [29]

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Authors
Chen, M., & Bargh, J. A.
Affiliations
New York University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
1999-02
Volume
25
Issue
2
Pages
215-224
ISSN
  • 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-7433
DOI
10.1177/0146167299025002007
OpenAlex
W2122493551
Cited by
1,473
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 53 · 2025: 48 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 59 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 74 · 2017: 65 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 90 · 2014: 96 · 2013: 90 · 2012: 67
FWCI
46.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Keywords
automated assessment, approach-avoidance behavior, stimulus valence, behavioral predispositions, implicit attitudes

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