The Latest on the Unconscious from Social Psychology

Recently, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) held their annual conference in Tampa FL. The annual conference is filled with the most current research in the broad field of social psychology. This year’s conference was no different, covering a wide range of topics, from close relationships to personality to “automatic” association/implicit attitudes.

A couple of talks particularly stood out in terms of our approach to behavioral insight.

It is important that we clearly define what the “automatic” in “automatic brand association” pertains to. In a talk entitled “Implicit attitudes: Consciously reportable yet uncontrollable”, Keith Payne of the University of North Carolina argued that “automatic” associations can, in some circumstances, be explicitly stated. The ability to explicitly explain the association, however, does not bestow control over it. Thus, the “automatic” portion emphasizes one’s inability to control the influence of the association.

This work is an important frame within which we can view advertising that explicitly attempts to belittle advertising techniques to the viewer. People are aware that they are being presented with various cues to trigger certain behaviors. This awareness, however, does not mean that it has no influence on behavior. The “automatic” associations triggered by a brand can influence behavior whether someone is aware of the attempt to influence or not.

Similarly, it is important to be clear on whether associations assessed indirectly (e.g., response time methodology) speak to “automatic” associations. In a talk entitled “Are implicit attitudes unconscious?”, Bertram Gawronski of the University of Western Ontario argues that we can be aware of where our attitudes come from (origin), what they consist of (content), and how they affect our behavior (influence). Direct measures and indirect measures can show us the origin and content of our attitudes. The influence of attitudes, however, may be better captured by indirect measures as influence can escape awareness and thus not show on more direct measures.

This is an important finding in terms of the Sentient Decision Science automatic brand association methodology. Direct measures can be informative as to how consumer attitudes came about and what those attitudes consist of. However, the indirect measure of attitudes, can tap into the influence of “implicit attitudes” to a greater degree than direct measures. In other words, indirect measures are not a substitute for direct measures, but rather are an enhancemet that has value and import in examining how attitudes influence behavior.

Keeping a close eye on the latest research in academia provides a great deal of benefit to the market research industry. Considering alternative explanations and creating methodological refinements is an important driver of solid theory. If the market research industry cuts itself off from this arena, we risk continuing to use techniques because “that’s how everyone does it” or “that’s how it’s always been done” when better techniques and theories are available.