Chen & Bargh (1999)

From PsychWiki - A Collaborative Psychology Wiki

Chen, M., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). Nonconscious approach and avoidance behavioral consequences of the automatic evaluation effect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 215-224.

Chen and Bargh (1999) found that participants instructed to pull a lever toward them in response to positive words and to push a lever away from themselves in response to negative words did so faster than participants given the opposite instructions (pull for negative words, push for positive words). In a second experiment, participants were instructed to pull the lever toward them whenever they saw any word. These participants were faster for positive words than negative words. Participants instructed to push the lever whenever they saw a word were faster for negative words than positive words. These findings suggest that 1) we evaluate stimuli extremely quickly, within the fraction of a second it takes us to pull or push a lever, and 2) our evaluations are intimately connected to our behavioral responses, with positive evaluations being attached to approach tendencies and negative evaluations being attached to avoidance tendencies.