Is Evaluative Conditioning Important? Integration into Impression Formation Research Would Answer this Question

Evaluative conditioning (EC) experiments and impression formation experiments study factors that influence evaluation. Despite large overlap between these two research traditions, they often operate in parallel without attention to findings and theories from the other line of research, risking redundancy. We suggest reintegrating EC research into impression formation as the branch of research that investigates the effect of stimulus co-occurrence distinct from the effects of other relational information. Most learning episodes include stimulus co-occurrence and other relational information (e.g., viewers learn that Batman co-occurs with crime and that he fights crime). Therefore, EC research is important to the extent that the influence of stimulus cooccurrence on evaluation is not overridden by the effects of other relational information. We review initial evidence suggesting that co-occurrence influences evaluation over and above other relational information, and report two experiments that demonstrate empirical directions for studying the effects of co-occurrence versus other relational information.