Evaluative conditioning: a review and a model

Evaluative conditioning refers to the transfer of affective value to an initially neutral stimulus by pairing the neutral stimulus with an affective stimulus (positive or negative). In the first part of this article the associative nature of evaluative conditioning is discussed and existing models of evaluative learning are described. It is argued that these models of evaluative conditioning do not provide a complete account of evaluative conditioning and generate non-specific predictions. The second part of the article concerns the development of a more specific model of evaluative conditioning, describing such conditioning in terms of pearce’s 1987 model of stimulus generalisation and configural learning. By viewing the transfer of affect as a generalisation and configural learning process, this model can account for most demonstrations of evaluative conditioning and generates more precise and unambiguous predictions. (netherlands journal of psychology, 63, 38-49).