Hedonic Rarefaction Accompanies Positive Hedonic Contrast

Subjects rated their liking for (Experiment 1) and their preferences between (Experiment 2) weakly hedonically positive test paintings. Some subjects first saw and rated some hedonically negative context paintings. Those subjects reported greater liking for (Experiment 1) and larger preferences between (Experiment 2) the test paintings than did subjects who saw and rated only the test paintings. Experiment 1 shows positive hedonic contrast. Interpreting preference as an index of hedonic difference, Experiment 2 shows that positive contrast is accompanied by expansion (rarefaction) of the hedonic spacing among stimuli. This is the reverse of what happens with negative hedonic contrast – shrinkage (condensation) of hedonic spacing. When people evaluate stimuli that vary in hedonic value, the ratings often exhibit contrast. For example, a stimulus preceded by a series of very good stimuli will be judged as worse than it would be otherwise. This is negative hedonic contrast. Conversely, a stimulus preceded by a series of very bad stimuli will be judged as better than it would be otherwise. This is positive hedonic contrast. Negative hedonic contrast has been shown in previous research (e.g., Zellner, Rohm, Bassetti, & Parker, 2003 and Zellner, Allen, Henley, & Parker, 2006) using fruit juices. Some of the juices were given at full strength (hedonically positive context juices) and others were diluted (hedonically neutral test juices). Some subjects consumed only the dilute test juices and other subjects consumed the dilute test juices after consuming the full-strength context juices. Those subjects who consumed only the dilute test juices gave them higher hedonic ratings than did the subjects who first drank the hedonically positive full strength context juices. Another study found similar effects using hedonically neutral test birds which were presented alone or preceded by hedonically attractive context birds (Zellner et al., 2003). Subjects who first rated the hedonically attractive context birds rated the hedonically neutral test birds as less attractive than did those subjects who viewed only the test birds. Positive hedonic contrast has also been demonstrated (Dolese, Zellner, Vasserman, Parker, 2005). Dolese et al. (2005) had one group of subjects view and rate five paintings from Francisco Goya’s Dark Period (hedonically negative context stimuli) before viewing and rating two pastoral paintings by Goya (hedonically neutral test stimuli). This group rated the hedonically neutral pastoral paintings as more hedonically positive than did subjects who viewed only those paintings. Hedonic condensation, a reduction of preference between test stimuli, has been found to co-occur with negative hedonic contrast. When good stimuli precede hedonically neutral stimuli not only do they make those neutral stimuli less hedonically positive, but they also reduce the preference between them. Zellner, Allen, et al. (2006) demonstrated this condensation effect by having subjects rate their degree of preference between paired mediocre test juices either when those juices were preceded by pairs of hedonically positive juices or when they were presented alone. Subjects who first tasted the hedonically positive juices first not only reported liking the mediocre juices less than did those subjects who tasted only the mediocre juices (negative hedonic contrast), but they also reported smaller preferences between the mediocre test juices. Similar results were found with subjects evaluating the attractivenesses of pictures of birds (Zellner, Mattingly, & Parker, 2006). Although condensation has been found to accompany negative hedonic contrast, this phenomenon has not been demonstrated in situations producing positive hedonic contrast. The present study investigates whether condensation also accompanies positive hedonic contrast.