Jan De Houwer

Who they are

The work of Jan De Houwer reaches this site through the papers listed below. On this site the name is tied to Evaluative Conditioning, Classical Conditioning.

Key papers

De Houwer, J., Thomas, S., & Baeyens, F. (2001). Association learning of likes and dislikes: A review of 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning. Psychological Bulletin, 127(6), 853-869. What it reports: Reviews 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning, the change in liking that follows pairing with positive or negative stimuli, and reports effects with a large variety of stimuli and procedures within certain boundary conditions.

Hofmann, W., De Houwer, J., Perugini, M., Baeyens, F., & Crombez, G. (2010). Evaluative conditioning in humans: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 390-421. What it reports: A meta-analysis of 214 studies of evaluative conditioning in humans. Liking shifted on average after pairing, with stronger effects when people were aware of the pairing, when the paired stimulus was clearly visible, and on self-report measures.

Key ideas

Evaluative Conditioning: A brand paired with a good or bad feeling picks up some of it. Ingendahl and colleagues used it in 2023 to explain why only brands met during positive in-game experiences gained.

Classical Conditioning: Learning in which a neutral signal comes to trigger a response because it has repeatedly arrived just before something that already triggered it.

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