Until recently, research into the social consequences of affect has focused almost exclusively on conscious judgments and behaviours. The present research investigates the impact of positive and negative affective states on automatic behavioural priming, a nonconscious social process that enables us to efficiently and effortlessly assimilate or contrast our behaviour with contextual cues. Based on previous research into factors moderating the outcome of behavioural priming, it is hypothesized that positive affect will increase the magnitude of assimilation effects, while negative affect will induce contrast effects. The results of seven experiments conducted both in the laboratory and in the field provide support for this hypothesis, and suggest that the impact of affect on behavioural priming is mediated by the way in which primed mental content is used to guide behaviour. The theoretical and clinical implications of this research as well as future research directions are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258400 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Ashton-James, Claire Elizabeth, Psychology, Faculty of Science, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Psychology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Ashton-James Claire Elizabeth., http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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